Shepherd of the Stars
by joestej
Summary: When Humanity ventured into the stars, they found they were not alone. And they were not liked. So they learned. How to build bigger, stronger ships. More powerful weapons. In order to survive, they learned to wield the Sword of the Stars. But there was one lesson they hadn't learned. It was called the Mass Effect.
1. Cycle of War (Codex)

This story started as an idea in my head that wouldn't go away, which resulted in a collection of Codex entries, but no actual story. I posted it on here some time ago, and it got enough of a positive response that I started writing story to go with the Codex. It was then that I realized that a story that is about 75% backstory and 25% story...isn't a story.

So the Codex entries have largely been taken down, and are being reworked. I'll repost them eventually, as well as some of the other background information I have.

This particular piece is intended as an in-universe document, so all spelling/grammar mistakes are intentional. It is also from the perspective of an asari blogger (or the Mass Effect equivalent) so expect a bit of asari spin on this one. A turian or human would probably disagree with some of her statements.

* * *

**The Cycle of War, an Extranet Journal post by Batha**

Humanity as a whole has had one of the most difficult histories of any Citadel species, with the possible exception of the krogan, and most of it has to do with outside intervention by alien species. Recent human history can be best described as a cycle: A period of vicious war, eventually resolved in peace while they rebuild, followed by another vicious war when they are attacked again.

Several hundred years ago, centuries of national conflict (including several limited nuclear exchanges) and overharvesting of the planet's natural resources led to a massive change in the biosphere, with millions of species going extinct and a sizable portion of the planet, including dozens of major population centers, being submerged under water. During these few centuries, a massive 70% of the human population was killed, something which should show the extent of devastation humanity was content to wreck upon itself.

However, unlike the krogan, humanity learned from the sins of their past. They entered a period know as the Reconstruction Age. Newly formed human governments began seeking cooperation rather than conflict, and would soon be rewarded for their efforts. They discovered the secrets of the Node drive, sadly through the sacrifice of the genius who invented the technology, and began planning a joint human effort to explore the stars. It would not be any sort of stretch to claim that had the Citadel races encountered humanity at this point in history, we would have welcomed them with open arms as sisters.

But the intervention of Princess Obsidian Crown's rogue Hiver fleet ended all that in a storm of nuclear fire. Driven by her own failed coup attempt (The details of which I will not go into here, I leave charting the maze that is Hiver history to others more skilled than myself), the Princess sought to settle on Earth and rebuild her forces there, and she did not care that the planet was already occupied. In 48 hours, almost half the human population of Earth died as the Hiver fleet smashed what few orbital stations Earth possessed (including their first interstellar ship, the Nova Maria) and began scouring whole hemispheres of life. Earth was only spared when they activated the remaining nuclear ordinance left from their centuries of conflict and launched them at the Hivers. Over 3,000 fission and fusion weapons were launched, destroying all but the Hiver flagship, which limped off to parts unknown (though an ongoing Human-Hiver effort is still made to find it and bring it to trial for war crimes).

This one act would forever color how humans would see the galaxy. They had discovered that peace only led to death as those who had chosen war would simply slaughter you from above. So they chose war once again, and took to it with a vengeance. They built several massive fleets and set them out into space, settling new colonies to prevent humanity from ever being destroyed as it almost was before. And they sought out the Hivers, destroying several Hiver colonies before Hiver retaliation fleets could arrive and take their revenge on the new human worlds. The exploits of Ziggy Stardust, the adopted Hiver worker who helped broker the fragile truce between Humanity and the Hivers, have been well documented elsewhere, so I will not go into them, but I would instead like to explore the physiological implications of the humans adopting Ziggy at all.

It is important to remember that Ziggy was not found by colonists, who might not have shared SolForce's ideals, but by Ground Force Marines, who were specifically tasked with killing all remaining Hivers to make room for the colonists. At the time, they had no idea if the infant drone could even think for itself, but it was obviously in distress, and in a surprising act of mercy, they took it in and cared for it. Why humans would do such a thing is regarded with confusion from those familiar with the popular human line of ruthless retaliation, but is easier to understand when one looks back at the Reconstruction Period.

Humans did not set into space to conquer, but to explore. Their current hostility is not their natural state but a learned reaction. If you kick a varren once, the next time you try, it will probably bite you. When not presented with an outside threat, humans are just a civil as any Citadel race, and are capable of great tolerance and love, even for aliens. However, this attitude changes instantly when confronted with a threat.

This principle can be seen in the actions in the years following their truce with the Hivers. Their encounter with the Liir, though understandably guarded, went quite peacefully. Similarly, their encounter with what would eventually become the Morrigi Trade Confederation involved no violence, though there have been several documented incidents of SolForce ships unknowingly being attacked by ancient Morrigi defences. Their encounter with the Tarka, however, can best serve as an example of human's aggression when provoked.

Tarkasian culture values strength and they are instinctively driven to attack those they perceive as weaker. This caused Human/Tarkasian first contact to devolve into bloodshed quickly, when a human explorer fleet stumbled onto a Tarkasian planet and, unable to understand their warnings, was destroyed by the hot-headed Tarkasian commander. SolForce responded predictably, and within two months a massive human battlefleet entered the system, ready to pound the colony flat. It was only the intervention of a Liir trading ship in the region that prevented further bloodshed, translating for the two races and allowing for the new commander, a more level-headed female, to negotiate a cease-fire with the human fleet. Human/Tarkasian relations are still somewhat uneven to this day.

However, things eventually quieted down. Baring occasional police actions against the Zuul, humanity entered another brief period of peace. This peace was again shattered by an outside invader: the turian fleet. A human science expedition was attempting to activate a dormant mass relay, having discovered it some time ago and wishing to know its function. Just as with their construction of the Nova Maria, they only sought knowledge of the universe, and were rewarded for their curiosity with fire and death.

Though the details of the turian arrival and response are well documented, certain factors are of particular importance here. First, the turians did not broadcast any kind of signal or first contact package before firing a warning salvo. Second, human ships of that time were of an extremely tiny, even considering their current small size. A human cruiser measured only 90 meters long, smaller than even a turian frigate.

Therefore, when the turian patrol arrived and immediately opened fire with a weapon larger than several human ships strung together, the humans reacted naturally, and began to flee toward the nearest Node line. Because the turian ships did not attempt any sort of broadcast, it never occurred to the humans that negotiation might even be possible. They believed that this was the war of extermination they had been preparing for from the moment they struck back against the Hivers. By the time the turians finally attempted communication four months later, to demand the surrender of Shanxi, it was far to late to negotiate a cease fire.

Though this is primarily an essay about human history and its effects on their current political stance, humanity's tactics in the Human/Turian War are a good indicator of their general mindset in conflict, and the Council's actions were in turn a good example of our own flawed mindset at the time. Of the various Council races, the human's response most closely mirrors that of the turians, using carefully laid traps and guerrilla actions to bleed out the attacker, forcing them to stretch themselves too thin. Human ships would use sensor satellites to track the progress of the turian scouting groups, jumping in when they crossed a Node line, engaging the smallest ships for as long as it seemed safe, and then jumping away again. By the time the Turian Seventh Fleet reached Shanxi, it had lost the majority of its frigate escorts, either destroyed or forced to fall back to Council space due to their damages.

It was this sudden influx of damaged turian frigates that first alerted the Council to the fact that the Seventh Fleet might not be just facing an isolated, primitive race that attacked out of irrational xenophobia. Turian misrepresentation of the Relay 314 Incident that kicked off the war prevented the Council from realizing that the patrol had overstepped, so the turians were given free reign to 'pacify' the enemy with whatever force was needed. Several first contact teams were quickly assembled to help integrate the new race once the turians had dealt with them, but other than this, the Council had considered the matter settled. The unexpected severity of turian losses was unsettling, as was the choice in targets. Though some military analysts concluded the enemy simply didn't think their small weapons would have any effect on the turians' larger ships, others saw the logical progression behind the humans' tactics, and feared a deadly reprisal when they finally reached the human homeworld. When the scout ships first discovered Shanxi, they were engaged almost instantly by human forces, and the Seventh Fleet requested additional forces be deployed to assist them in securing the system after they engaged, expecting a brutal slug fest with the remains of the human fleet.

When the Seventh Fleet finally reached Shanxi, presumed at the time to be the human homeworld, they came in cautiously, and were surprised to find it largely empty. All civilian traffic had long been converted to military use, and the human fleet was missing, presumably retreating to an unknown outpost rather than waste their lives in a futile static defense of a doomed world. The powerful turian spinal guns made quick work of the defense platforms, and the Seventh Fleet demanded Shanxi's surrender. The humans responded by firing their ground-based fusion missiles into the turian fleet. The GARDIAN lasers on the turian ships were too weak to successfully intercept all the heavily armored human missiles, and several cruisers suffered serious damage. The humans deliberately targeted what their fleet had identified as 'weak points' in the enemy ship structure, and had even programmed their missiles to pick paths that had the lowest laser coverage.

The Seventh Fleet began an extensive orbital bombardment of the planet, which had fortunately been evacuated some time previously, but was interrupted by the return of the human defense fleet. The turians had been expecting this possibility and left a rear guard, but the human ships would not be deterred, returning time and again to harass and distract the fleet. They set up a staging area on the edge of the system along the Node line, and would jump into the middle of the turian fleet at random intervals, forcing them to stay on constant watch and inflicting grueling psychological damage as the planet continued to fire fusion missiles in occasional bursts. In the end, all their efforts were proven hopeless, and the human ships were forced to abandon the system after over 36 hours of constant orbital strikes and skirmishes.

Once the fleet abandoned the system, the turians sent down an invasion force to pick through what was left of the colony, only to discover that the heavily dug in human command center was still partially intact. Guard Captain Vidinos led the turian special forces team that took the command center and was one of the first to encounter the human powered armor, created to even the gap between humanity and the other Orion races. The humans fought to the last man and euthanized their wounded, further proof than the humans felt death would be preferable than capture by their enemies, though given their experience with the Zuul, this can be considered a less drastic measure than it at first appeared.

What the Seventh Fleet couldn't have known at the time was that the command center itself was a trap, luring them into taking an incomplete Node Map that would lead them right to where the real human fleet was waiting. All the turians knew was that they had to move quickly if they wanted to catch the enemy before they could jump again. The fleet hastily abandoned the planet, leaving their more damaged cruisers behind as a rear guard to meet their expected reinforcements.

When the fleet arrived at the other end of the Node Line, they found not a fleet of refugees, but an armada of Human ships, long range defense platforms, and fusion mines. Realizing the trap, the Seventh Fleet fell back toward Shanxi to link up with their expected reinforcements and try to hold the line. However, when they arrived, they found that the humans had placed another trap at the Relay, planting mines in the space around it so ships would be destroyed almost instantly on arrival. Of the two flotillas assigned to reenforce the Seventh fleet, only 3 ships escaped the trap unscathed.

Low on supplies, cut off from aid, and facing a vengeful human fleet without enough ships small enough to properly engage them, the Seventh Fleet faced a dilemma. They could fight on, but the fight would be a hopeless one. They could flee, abandoning their most damaged ships and retreating to Council space. Surrender was not an option, as the suicide of any cornered humans indicated that captives were not well treated in human society. This assumption would later be proven untrue, but was reasonable at the time.

In the end, the Seventh Fleet chose the most reasonable course, scuttling their slowest ships and making the best possible speed for the Relay. The human fleet had apparently anticipated this and had already moved to cut off the Relay. The Battle of Relay 317 began, as the turian forces fought their way to the Relay, taking heavy damage along the way. By the end of the campaign, at least a third of the Seventh Fleet had been either destroyed or crippled, and another third had taken at least moderate damage.

Following this retreat, both sides began planning for the worst. The humans realized that even with all their assembled might, they were unable to stop the turian retreat, and if the enemy possessed another fleet like that (and giving their ship formations and the speed at which reinforcements were deployed, it seemed likely), there might be no way for humanity to stop them. In turn, the turians realized that they were now facing an interstellar empire of unknown size that possessed access to unknown technology of frightening power.

Both races turned to their allies for help. The Turians immediately provided the full details of their encounters to the Council, and requested permission to launch a massive invasion of the Orion Arm with full Council support. Upon reviewing the facts, the Council agreed that immediate action was needed. The turians had undoubtedly acted rashly and would be punished for their mistakes, but first the unknown threat had to be contained. A multiracial task force was put together, with at least three known SPECTREs assigned to the mission, though more may have been confidentially attached as well. Including support vessels, the new task force numbered three times that of the Seventh Fleet, and included numerous salarian frigates for interception duty as well as two asari dreadnoughts and even more commando teams.

On the other side of the Relay, the humans assembled a meeting of all four known powers in the Orion Arm. Once there, they revealed all the data they had collected, and proposed an alliance against this common foe. When confronted with the enormity of the threat these new invaders could pose, the Liir, Tarka, and Hivers all agreed to the alliance, and began planning a defensive strategy. The inclusion of the Hivers in the Alliance was considered by many to be a token gesture, as their ships would not be able to assist with anything other than the defense of their own worlds without functioning FTL. It was theorized that they were only included to prevent the Hivers from taking advantage of the other empires in their weakened states. However, with the recent declassification of several of SolForce's contingency plans after first contact, it is now known that should the war start going badly, SolForce was willing to give the Hivers Node Drive technology, allowing them to rapidly join the war and still use their own gates to quickly evacuate or reinforce besieged systems.

When the Council task force jumped through the Relay, they found not a human fleet waiting for them, but the combined might of the human, Tarkasian, and Liir empires. Both sides were preparing for a massive battle, one that would have cost countless lives, had the Liir not then intervened. In an attempt to discern the mindset of the invaders before declaring them Suul'Ka, they had placed several cloaked ships near the Relay, to telepathically scan the enemy forces. When they determined that the Council forces had no hostile intent and felt as threatened as those of the Orion Arm, they were able to convince the Orion fleets to hold their fire. The Council task force, thanks in large part to the wisdom of Matriach Benezia, who had come as an adviser to General Corinthus, held their fire as well, allowing the Liir to get closer and determine the true state of affairs.

Though the situation was resolved peacefully, the humans never forgot the danger they faced, or who it was that attacked them. Despite the current peace and several attempts to secure a seat on the Council, humanity continues to build up its naval forces, and has some of the most complete defenses for their systems of any Citadel race, including the turians. Several of my readers have stated that humanity acts like a mad varren, snapping at anything that comes close. Well I would argue that if humanity is mad, we are the ones who drove it there. To use a human expression: you reap what you sow. Or, to use a much more common human expression: payback is a bitch.


	2. Extinct (Story)

_Before I get started, I'd like to address some reader concerns:_

_Yes. SotS is quite underpowered for what they are canonically capable of. I wanted this to at least be something of a 'fair' crossover, and that's actually very hard to do with SotS. Their tiny ship size and huge firepower (Cutting Beams = Shadow Beams from B5, holy crap) mean that they can kick a lot of ass in universes like Star Wars, Halo, and Mass Effect, where you have kilometer long starships that don't mount half that. It's largely due to the difference in genres. 4X games usually have strong tech advantages over their FPS and movie counterparts. _

_I would say that Mass Effect is being sold short a little bit, but rather than start an argument (there are forums for that), I'll just say that in order to keep the threats, you know, threatening, SotS has been nerfed, and Mass Effect has been bumped up a bit._

_That said, here is a story (gasp, an actual story, my god!), wherein the Liir will demonstrate exactly why you do not tick off a race with fusion weapons. I do try and proof my stuff, but some typos are bound to slip through, as I am lazy and would rather be playing than proofing. If you find a typo, post it in a review for me to fix, and go get yourself a cookie of your choice._

* * *

"Well, this is dull," grumbled Captain Vorhess as he watched the planet Lorek spin lazily below from his command chair. "Ensign, tell me you have something. All this 'patrolling' is making me want to quit the Navy and become a mercenary."

"Sorry sir," the young Batarian manning the sensors replied. "Local forces have contained the plague riots, and since the planet is quarantined, there's been no ship traffic for days."

"Wonderful. I finally get promoted to captain, and they give me a frigate command in the ass end of nowhere. I have to run all around the system, looking for 'threats'. Meanwhile, the mighty commodore gets to sit his cruiser in dry dock because of 'plague contamination' and have some Asari slave girl serve him honey mead in his luxury suite. Makes me sick."

"Captain, are you sure it's wise to- Sir, new contacts! Six unidentified frigates! They just appeared next to Hammer Station!"

"Frigates? What the hell are-"

"Positive IFF! They're registered as Liir cruisers!"

"Oh no.." Vorhess said in a low tone, zooming the ship's holographic display in on the ships with a wave of his omnitool. "Get us out of here! Maximum speed out of the system!"

No sooner had the captain spoken than there was a brilliant flash of light from outside the ship. A shower of glowing yellow bolts poured from the Liir ships, passing through its barriers like they weren't even there and hammering into the armor. As the lights faded, it looked like the station looked like wax brought too close to a flame. Huge swaths had melted away, and the rest was riddled with melted holes each size of a small shuttle. As Vorhess watched, something exploded deep inside the station, and about a third of it broke off and began drifting away.

"Maximum speed, aye!" the pilot replied, and the rest of the crew seemed all too happy to let him plot a swift course away from the battle. Many of them had friends who worked side jobs as pirates in Liir space, or had even engaged in some piracy themselves. There was no way they wanted to be in the path of a Liir warfleet, not when their own cruiser was sitting helpless in the burning wreck of the station's drydock.

"Sir, twelve contacts entering the system! Liir destroyers!" the sensor officer cried, and their icons instantly appeared in Vorhess' display.

"Make for Dorgal, we can lose them when they slow for the planet's gravity well," Vorhess ordered, pulling up a display of several the ships that had started moving toward them. Something looked off... "Belay that! Full evasive! Those are torpedo ships!"

The captain felt a sickening pull as the ship's inertial commentators tried to adjust for the tight roll their pilot was attempting to pull off. He almost made it. Several of the torpedoes flashed past in arcs of crackling white light as they chased the ship's countermeasures, but the pilot couldn't adjust for the ship's momentum. The frigate slid sideways, exposing part of its flank to the enemy ships. To the Liir gunners, it was a target they couldn't possibly miss.

The ship heaved as a torpedo slammed into it, crashing into the frigate's flank. Pain blossomed as Vorhess was thrown from his command chair to the floor. Wiping blood from several of his eyes, Vorhess saw the ship was now running on emergency power, and judging by the weightless feeling in his body, the gravity appeared to be going out as well. Somewhere, a warning Klaxon was blaring, and he thought he could hear someone screaming in pain, though the way his ears were ringing, he couldn't be sure.

"Damage report!" he bellowed into the chaos.

"Engines are offline," said a voice from somewhere behind him. It wasn't his Exo, that man was laying dead over by the windows, which Vorhess noticed with some alarm were heavily cracked in several places. Fortunately the armored shutters had closed over them, keeping the atmosphere inside. "The core is intact, but the mains were mostly severed by that last torpedo. Until they can fix them, we've got no barriers or weapons."

"Damn it," Vorhess snarled, climbing shakily to his feet and waving his omnitool at the main display. It sputtered and refused to engage. Enraged, he kicked it savagely, and was satisfied when it flickered to life, showing the Liir destroyers holding their position some distance from his battered ship. "How long for repairs?"

"Not sure," said the voice, and now that his head was clearer, Vorhess recognized it as belonging to the ensign who normally crewed the sensor array. "They say they're going to try and get engines back online, but depending on the damage, it could take hours."

"Damn those overgrown fish. Why don't they just finish us off?" Something clicked into place in the captain's mind then, and his eyes widened. "Ensign, get me engineering, on the double!"

The young batarian pressed several buttons on his terminal, and when nothing happened, pulled up his omnitool and fiddled in the air above it. A series of sparks flew from the terminal, and Vorhess heard the voice of his engineer over the speaker.

"Captain, I'll have engines for you as soon as I can. Half my team is dead and the other half injured. This is the best I can do"

"No, stop your repairs. You engage those engines and we're all dead. I need you to shut down the core."

"Shut down the core? Captain, are you insane? The Liir-"

"The Liir are waiting to see if this ship is still alive, or just taking its time about dying. As soon as it becomes obvious we can actually fix this damage, they'll fire another volley and finish us for good. Our only hope is to cut all non-essential power, and hope they find something else to shoot at."

"...alright, sir. You'll all want to put on suits, I'm going to have to cut power to life support too. Engineering out."

"Captain, I have a camera feed to Lorek. I think you'll want to see this," the ensign said as soon as the channel closed.

"Put it through. Let's see how our dear friend the Commodore is doing." The main display switched to a slightly out of focus shot of the planet behind them. Hammer Station was nothing but burning wreckage now, and Vorhess thought he saw the prow of the commodore's cruiser drifting in the ruins, but it might have been his imagination. He also spotted debris fields at the last known positions of the other patrol frigates. Apparently they hadn't fared any better than his had.

As he and the rest of the bridge crew watched, a trio of destroyers began approaching the planet. Each fired a single large missile before the entire enemy fleet turned and started moving away from the planet.

"No radiation or energy signature from the missiles," the ensign supplied helpfully. "They don't seem to have any kind of payload..."

"Bio-weapons. It's a damn plague fleet. They'll wipe out every living thing on the planet with those!" the captain snarled, pounding his fist into the projector and causing it to spark and die again. With a sigh, he hung his head and spoke softly. "Everyone to your suits. Engineering should be cutting life support any time now."

No one spoke as they all climbed into their environment suits. It would have seemed wrong, somehow. What did one say after watching xenocide?

Bulky suit creaking in the silence, Vorhess sat down in his command chair (the arm had been torn off, he noted with a grim bitterness). No sooner had he done so than the lights died, and he started floating up into the air. Wearily, he belted himself down and turned to the crew.

"Someone go down to Engineering," he ordered, his voice flat and exhausted. "Tell them to do what repairs they can without power, and to fire up the core only when our suits are about to give out. I'm not taking any chances."

"What then, Captain? Set course for Khar'Shan? To warn them?" the ensign asked, and Vorhess was grateful for the helmet that covered the young batarian's face. He didn't think he wanted to see the expression.

"Khar'Shan will know soon anyway, if they don't already. The Hegemony is about to be paid back for every raiding vessel we sent into Liir space," Vorhess said darkly. "And it appears they are big believers in interest. When we have power again, if we aren't dead, set course for Omega. We'll try and figure out what to do when we get there."

Silence returned to the bridge as far behind the crippled ship, a world full of 5 million dying souls spun quietly through the stars.

_Following the Batarian Extermination, several Batarian ships that had been listed by both sides as destroyed in action were unable to be located by salvage teams. It is unknown if these 'lost ships' were merely taken by rogue scavengers who left no record of their haul, or if the ships survived to lip away, seeking shelter at pirate ports or other shipyards that were off the grid. As Batarian ship designs were already popular with pirates, it is unknown how many of these ships were re-purposed for illegal use following the fall of the Hegemony. _


	3. The Batarian Extermination (Codex)

**Codex Entry: Batarian Extermination**

Facing continued batarian aggression against Liirian worlds due to the Liir's pacifistic stance, and with no diplomatic resolution seeming possible, the Black Eldest decided to mobilize. Utilizing an advanced retro-plague, the Liir began systematically eradicating the batarians. Liirian agents released the retro-plague on the Citadel, Omega, and many other trading hubs. Within three months, the plague was present on virtually every major Batarian world, including Khar'shan.

Just as 3rd party corporations began working on a cure, the Liirian fleet began attacking batarian worlds without warning, bombarding them with bio-missiles and then leaving as swiftly as they had come. Not even the smallest outpost was spared. Fearing war with the Terminus Systems, the Council attempted to reason with the Liir, but the Citadel Eldest refused to speak to them. The batarian fleet congregated at their core worlds to try and fight off the Liir, but the damage done by the plague was already severe, crippling both their government and military.

Liirian destroyers remained in orbit over the worlds they visited, turning away all humanitarian aid and shooting down any ships attempting to leave the planets, while the main fleets pressed inward. The Liirian forces ignored all attempts at surrender and ruthlessly hunted down escape pods and fleeing craft. None were ever spared, and ships of other races were given a choice of submitting to search, or being destroyed. Searched ships were spared, though the same could not be said for any batarians aboard. Liirian ground forces were covertly deployed to destroy relief efforts and sabotage all attempts at a cure.

Finally, after flat out begging the Council for the survival of their people, a last ditch defense of Khar'shan was assembled. The remaining Batarian ships linked up with a combined Citadel fleet, consisting largely of turian and Tarkasian vessels, but with asari, human, and Morrigi elements mixed in. Shortly afterward, several Liirian fleets descended on the system, arranging themselves just out of combat range of the Citadel fleet. An ultimatum was transmitted, stating that all non-Batarian ships were free to leave without violence, but any that remained after three hours would be considered Suul'ka and exterminated. In response, a Morrigi freighter carrying batarian refugees, _The Wings of Tomorrow_, set course straight for the Liirian flagship. In a mystifying change of heart, the Liirian fleet did not destroy it when it entered combat range, and when the freighter entered point defense range, the Liirian fleet surrendered unconditionally to the Citadel forces. Approximately one third of the Liirian fleet set an immediate course for the sun. Attempts to stop them proved futile.

Shortly afterward, the rest of the Liirian Black Swimmers either retreated or surrendered. The Citadel Eldest resurfaced and began negotiating with the Council regarding the aftermath of the Extermination. Though the Black Eldest was tried for war crimes in absentia, the Tarkasian ambassador requested to speak for the Liir, claiming that the Liirian response was merely a swifter version of the Genophage, and the Council themselves had set the precedent by responding to aggressive expansion with biological weapons. While the extremity of their response was regrettable, the methods they used violated no Council law, as their virus only attacked batarians. Though her defense is still considered extremely controversial, the ambassador succeeded in clearing the Black Eldest from all charges.

Following the trial, the Citadel Eldest presented the Black's proposal for peace: the surviving batarians would become a client species of the Liir, who would look after them and their worlds until the batarian population grew to the point where they could again be considered a galactic power. Though it was considered, the Council was reluctant to transfer control of batarians worlds to the race that had just attempted to exterminated. Instead, the batarians were made a protectorate of the Council, with the Black Swimmers helping settle the planets as a form of life-long community service. The Liir were also levied with heavy annual reparations to the batarian people for their crimes. The Citadel Eldest accepted these terms, and the annual Liiran reparation has never failed to be less than twice the amount the Council mandates. Among the Liir, this is known as the Black Tribute, though the more cynical of the batarians have taken to calling it the Blood Harvest.

For the most part, once the initial injuries had healed and the plague had been cured, the batarians were more accepting of the Black Swimmers that settled on their worlds than was originally anticipated. Incidents of violence between the two factions has been largely limited to minor altercations, with only a handful of riots or terrorist actions that required intervention by Council police forces. It helped that the Black Swimmers were both apologetic and helpful, never offering violence no matter how provoked. Former batarian worlds are reported to be peaceful and productive, but are still very underpopulated, lending a ghost-town feel to them.


	4. Crows (Story)

"I thought the Morrigi were a largely extinct race," Ambassador Tevos remarked calmly.

"As did we," Anita Goyle murmured darkly, surveying the bazar with angry eyes. "Clearly, the Crows have been hiding their true colors for some time now."

The pair stood in the middle of a large market, large being the operative word. Morrigi of every shape and size had set up their own areas, showcasing objects both mundane and fantastic. Drones zipped through the air like swirling birds, transporting small objects or carrying about other mundane tasks. Based off the view from the shuttle they had taken down to the planet, the bazar stretched on for at least two kilometers in every direction.

"It is actually for your benefit," the pilot had told them after the shuttle had landed. "The Harrowing is traditionally not a place for trade, but the Morru Khan wished you to be able to sample our luxuries before the main event."

"Tokhta failed to mention exactly what the main event was," Anita muttered darkly. They had seen quite a few events since their arrival, from one on one combat between Morrigi in powered armor, each equipped with their own set of attack drones, to a full simulated invasion on the planet's larger moon. That last one had certainly gotten the attention of the Turian and Krogan representatives. "And this useless piece of junk won't tell me anything."

The human ambassador indicated the drone that followed the pair, currently displaying a hologram of two destroyers strafing each other through a nearby asteroid field.

"I am sorry, Ambassador. I am not programmed with that knowledge. It will be broadcast to me when the time is right," the drone chirped obediently, just as it had every other time Anita had complained about this issue.

"Be patient, Ambassador. I'm sure all will be revealed soon," Tevos answered with a knowing smile, turning to examine an intricate bracelet. The towering Morrigi female launched into a long and complicated story about the bracelet's origins, but Anita automatically turned her out. A sale pitch was the same wherever you went.

Suddenly, the drones overhead all froze in the air. As one, they turned to face the gathering below them and spoke with a single booming voice.

"**Attention. The final event of the Honing will begin in five minutes."**

No sooner had they spoken than the drones all returned to what they had been doing, as though nothing had ever happened. The Morrigi below, however, began swiftly packing away their wares. With a flurry of wings, a white-feathered male landed before them, flanked by two others in full armor.

"Tokhta the Just," Tevos said, bowing gracefully at the waist. "We finally meet. I offer you piece on behalf of the Asari people, and the Citadel Council as well."

"Be careful, Ambassador, or I just might take you up on your offer," Tokhta replied, his eyes twinkling. "And Ambassador Goyle. It has been some time since we last spoke."

"Indeed," Anita agreed with a neutral tone. "It would appear your people were not as forthcoming with us as we had at first assumed."

"You know what humans say about assuming, Ambassador," the Morrigi answered with that same mischief. "Come with me. I shouldn't be late for my own Honing, it wouldn't look good. You two are the last I must collect, the others are already waiting."

"You still haven't explained what this main event is supposed to be," Anita accused, falling in behind Tokhta. She also noticed grimly that the two armored Morrigi had slid in behind them. Judging from their weapons and the drones used in the duel, they were wielding the powerful laser rifles Morrigi seemed to favor, with the armor piecing chakkram cannons mounted in their drones. The fingers of the suit would hold sharpened melee blades, and considering their size…

"You'll find out in just a minute, Ambassador," Tokhta said over his shoulder, breaking her out of her paranoid thoughts. "We're almost there."

Ahead of them was a small platform on a hill. A series of pillars rose from the platform, and Anita recognized them as control pillars, the Morrigi equivalent of a computer terminal. It had no walls or ceiling, but she noticed a large holotank had been placed directly in the center. Several colorful Morrigi males waited expectantly for them, along with the rest of the diplomatic group.

"Councilors, Ambassadors. I trust I have not kept you waiting long," Tokhta called, climbing the steep hill with ease. "Please, make yourself comfortable, but I must request you stay off the command platform. We will be starting shortly."

"Still won't say what the point of all this was," Vaanu Hanakuum, the Tarkasian ambassador, grumbled quietly as he lumbered over to Anita. "Damn Crows. The Council should have sent a woman for this, like your people did. I don't have the patience for their bullshit."

"The fact that you know that, Vaanu, is why they sent you," buzzed Prince Stone Mind, the Hiver ambassador, as he also walked over to where the others were standing. "Be patient. You know the Crows, nothing is ever what it seems. Besides, you should be proud. You haven't made one joke about serving me with butter all day."

"I would never make such a tasteless mark and expect to survive the reprisal, Stone," Vaanu answered with a savage grin. "Perhaps we should try cheeses instead. Though I imagine I'll still come out worse for it."

"But Tarkasians do not become intoxicated when consuming dairy products," Tevos stated, confused. "Why would you come out worse?"

"He was making a joke," Ambassador Eshelen explained, sliding over on the many tentacles of her hydration armor. "Tarkasian humor is usually self-deprecating."

"Amusing," said their Spectre escort, in a tone that indicated it was anything but. The young Turian's name was Saren, if Anita remembered correctly. He stood off to one side, a bored expression on his face. It looked like he was about to go on, but was cut off when the evening sky suddenly lit up with blinding lights.

Below them, the clouds of drones had all stopped, and were now hovering motionless. Light shone from the tops of every drone, combining above the gathering to form a massive 3D image: two massive fleets opposing one another on the outskirts of the system's asteroid field. As Anita watched, a set of numbers in the Trade Language began counting down in the top right.

"Is this a live feed?" she asked suddenly as everything clicked into place.

"Of course." Tokhta wound himself around the largest command pillar, shooting them all what passed among Morrigi as a grin. "Now if you will all excuse me, the main event is about to begin. I must defend my title."

"How many dreadnoughts are up there?" Stone Mind asked, tilting his head back and staring upward.

"Fifteen," Vaanu confirmed, pointing at a running tally in the holotank in the midst of the command pillars. "That's more than the damn Salarians!"

"It would appear the Morrigi have been quite busy recently," Eshelen stated in a tone that from anyone but a Liir would have been dry sarcasm. "Interesting."

The timer ticked down to zero, and both fleets immediately began moving, the angular Morrigi designs quickly slicing through the darkness as they began maneuvering. Predictably, both sides began immediately launching drones in large numbers almost immediately.

As she watched, she noticed two different tactics present. Tokhta had divided his fleet into several parts, sending several groups of destroyers forward while the bulk of his fleet remained back. The screening destroyers used maneuverability to their advantage while his torpedo ships and carriers hid behind the main force in the asteroid belt. Meanwhile, the enemy fleet seemed to be avoiding the belt like it was poison, instead grouping together in a tight knot, using their combined point defense to cut down drones, missiles, and torpedoes before they could get close.

"Tokhta is the existing Morru Khan, so he must defend," a female voice called, and the group turned to see a pair of Morrigi females climbing up the hill behind them. "He is allowed to place a limited number of defenses, but his opponent is allowed to choose where he will deploy."

"That explains it." Anita turned back to the battle raging overhead, trying to estimate the weaponry mounted on each ship. Positron beams, kelvinic torpedoes, mass drivers… "His opponent must be afraid of asteroid traps. If he stays away from the field, he's safe."

"Safe is a relative term." The Morrigi female rose to her full height, staring down at the group before bowing her head in greeting. "I am Akhilleos the Swift, mate of Tokhta the Just. Our soil is honored by your presence."

"What is that glowing beam?" Tevos wondered, pointing at a cruiser that had snagged a passing destroyer and was dragging it into the firing arc of its guns.

"Tractor beam," Anita answered easily as the destroyer broke apart under the force of the cruiser's beam weapons. "We don't mount them on anything in Council space; ships there are too big for it to be effective."

Silence settled on the group for a moment as they watched the battle unfold. The challenger's strategy appeared to be paying off. Tokhta was taking significant casualties, and his forces had been forced back from their bombardment position, with numerous ships destroyed or crippled. Councilor Tevos visibly flinched as one of Tokhta's dreadnoughts exploded violently under a barrage of mass driver rounds.

"The destruction is simulated," explained Akhilleos reassuringly. "The actual battle is fought with dummy warheads and tracking lasers. What you see in the sky is a simulation based off the data sent from the fleet. We are not monstrous enough to kill our own crews over a matter of leadership."

"That makes at least one race." Vaanu glanced pointedly at Anita and Stone as he spoke, though his large face was smiling as he did. Something flashed in the sky above, drawing all eyes back up to the battle.

The challenger had begun pushing forward through the wreckage of Tokhta fleet, when everything went wrong. There were several bright flashes, and the enemy ships were violently pulled toward the origin of each flash. As they watched, the flashes grew into huge balls of fire, pulling the enemy ships into their depths.

"Did you just make a miniature star?" Anita accused in horror, wheeling to face Akhilleos, who was looking rather smug.

"We call them implosion mines," the Morrigi answered calmly, even as more mines detonated while the enemy fleet tried to extricate itself from the debris field. "The gravity field pulls the enemy to a single point, where you then place a continuous fusion reaction. As you can see, it's quite effective."

"The whole battle was a trap," Eshelen pointed out as several Morrigi carriers decloaked behind the enemy fleet and unleashed a swarm of drones as their opponents floundered. Tokhta's main force had also begun to turn, wheeling around to face their opponents with unearthly grace and opening up with everything they had. "Tokhta sacrificed the ships from his main fleet so the debris would hide the sensor signatures of the mines he placed inside his formation. He encouraged the enemy's tight formations to maximize the damage from the mines."

"It appears that way." Stone watched attentively as repeated strafing runs finally forced a cruiser to succumb, breaking it into burning chunks as the drones that destroyed it swooped away. "This whole battle has been a deception. I doubt there ever were any asteroid traps."

"There weren't," Tokhta's voice called as he began unwinding himself from his control pillar. "My honored opponent has just surrendered. Continuing to waste lives when he is clearly beaten would merely shame him in front of the females. It should show on the simulation in just a moment, it lags behind by about a minute."

No sooner had the Morrigi leader finished speaking than the words **Simulation ended, Morru Khan Tokhta the Just Victorious** began flashing in the sky above them, the dueling ships fading away to darkness.

"I trust you all enjoyed my little show," he continued, walking over to stand between the two females. "On behalf of the Morrigi Confederation, I wish all of your races peace and prosperity. My people only wish to coexist in harmony with all of yours. It is my hope that we will all be able to work together to create a bright future for this galaxy. However, should thoughts of war and conflict ever enter your minds, I have this message for you and your people.

"I am first among Travelers, lord of the night sky, and leader of the clans. I am the voice of the Star Born. While you crawled, we flew. While you dreamed of wings, we knew the stars. We came down to share with your ancestors, but we returned to find death. Our females slaughtered, our worlds picked over like carrion. You have laid us a banquet of sorrow.

"You have risen from your dark depths, your twisting tunnels, your dawn-breaking cities, your pitiful nests of stone, and your atomic craters to lay claim to the very stars." As he spoke, Tokhta glaced at each of the ambassadors in turn, his gaze level and daring them to challenge him. "Blindly you wander, violating the tombs of my fathers, and turning loose your pestilence upon my wives and daughters. And I say: Enough!"

The females to either side of Tokhta seemed to grow in size, slowly beginning to tower over even the Hiver prince as they reared back and flared their wings. Their claws seemed more menacing, and it almost looked like fire was flowing inside their jaws.

"Real war is coming! The Travelers will yield no longer, to any who crawl in land or sea. Find some other place to build your foul nests and fight your petty battles. These stars are sacred, and they are mine!"

Tokhta rose up in to air, wings flapping, and suddenly, he was an avenging archangel, full of wrath and fury, glaring down at them all. Two massive dragons flanked him, fire in their mouths and death in their eyes. From where he hovered, the angel that was Tokhta spoke again with a voice that seemed to make the very earth shake.

"So look to the skies, children of the dust, and see my coming. I am the Dragon of a Thousand Wings! My people are no longer in hiding, and now we darken your skies!"

As the words left his lips, dozens upon dozens of Morrigi combat drones tore through the skies overhead, easily breaking the sound barrier and deafening everyone below with the noise of their passing. Anita swore she could feel the breeze from their passing as the drones tore through the air, engines screaming. And then they were gone, leaving the Anita's ears ringing and eyes straining against the sudden darkness. But she did not miss the expression on Tokhta's face as he leaned very close to the group and hissed in a harsh whisper:

"Like a murder of Crows."

_Shortly after the Honing, the Morrigi Confederation was offered associate member status on the Citadel. In a surprising turn of events, they declined. They did request, and were granted, a small embassy to further diplomacy with the other races. The STG has reported sightings of several large fleets of Morrigi vessels in the Terminus Systems. Independent sources report that several Spectres have been sighted in Morrigi space, though the Council currently denies having any operatives active in the Confederation._


	5. Extranet Forum Topic (Codex)

_As with my previous Extranet article, this conversation is an in-universe document, and all spelling/grammar errors are intentional. Unreliable narrator is also in full force on all sides._

* * *

**Hiver Military Strength: Citadel News Extranet Forum Topic**

BlackwatchBadass: I'm saying that without functional FTL, the Hivers aren't a serious military threat. Mobility is key for any battlefield, and without FTL, any Council race just needs to show up and start shooting from the edge of the system. By the time the Hivers get in range, there won't be any left to fight.

BlueSkye: You're selling the bugs short. There's a reason the humans an tarkasians don't mess with them.

STG103: I'm with Blackwatch on this. You keep saying the Hivers are this Rachni-esk super race, but I'm just not seeing it based off their tech level and the most recent declassified force estimates for them.

BlueSkye: Those were taken right before first contact, you can't claim those are remotely accurate. As for your long range bombardment theory, Hivers have some of the most advanced sublight drives in the known galaxy. It wouldn't take them that long to close the distance.

STG103: Try again, Blue. Even if we assume that the Hiver fleet can move at just under lightspeed, it would still take them five hours to reach the edge of the solar system. Considering the Council races' spinal guns fire once every two or three seconds and can destroy a Hiver dreadnought in a single shot, I would say the math is against you.

VarStompy: Frankly, I'm sick of this topic, but as a human, I figure it's my job to point out some facts you may be forgetting. First, the rounds from spinal guns don't pass lightspeed either. So it will take 5 hours for this sniper barage to hit, giving the Hivers plenty of time to dodge. Second, there are other celestial bodies in a solar system. If the Hivers use the other planets and asteroids in the system for cover, they don't even have to bother with dodging. And most importantly, what kind of gunner do you Council races have that can hit a 200 meter target all the way across a system? The only thing cross-system bombardment would be useful for would be attacking a planet, and considering the fact that Hivers build underground, it will take a long time before the Hivers really felt that kind of attack.

BlackwatchBadass: Oh? And you're saying you humans could do better than a multi-megaton per minute bombardment? There'd be nothing living on the face of the planet in under an hour. If Hivers are so tough, how did you do it?

VarStompy: It's not the firepower, its the precision. At that distance, you're just throwing rocks at the planet. The Hivers would eventually starve to death, but it would take ages, and they can instantly resupply from their gate. During the Human/Hiver conflict, we used assault shuttles to drop guided nuclear weapons directly into the Hiver complexes, and followed that up with nerve gas and power armored marines to finish clearing out the complexes.

BlueSkye: Thank you. This is exactly the point I was trying to make. What Hivers lack in offensive capabilities they more than make up for with pure tenacity.

STG103: Okay, fine, lets assume the Hivers would make it to the battle. But what about during the battle? During the Human and Turian War, the humans had to use their node drives to jump in behind the turian ships, where they couldn't fight back. I don't see the Hivers being able to pull that trick off.

VarStompy: 'Had to' is a strong phrase. It made sense, and considering the small force size humanity had available, conventional warfare would definitely have been a mistake. But we could have done it on conventional drives, we just would have suffered more losses. The Hivers can take those losses. In addition, there is one weakness of your spinal guns that you're overlooking: they're overpowered. Even a broadside gun will go right through most Orion ships. But Orion ships, and especially Hiver ships, are designed in sections. You can blow the engines off or midsection off a Hiver ship and it will keep fighting until you finally crush it for real.

Armali84: I can back up Stompy about the overkill thing. I work in Citadel Control, so I get to do a lot of ship-watching. The newest Turian and Salarian ships all have smaller turreted cannons on them, presumably to try and solve that problem.

BlackwatchBadass: Yeah, but Hiver ships mostly just use missile and ballistic weaponry. That kind of thing is pretty much useless against Citadel barriers and point defense grids.

TheCrownPrince: Okay, I'm going to put an end to this, as both a Hiver and a moderator. This kind of situation is a real combat scenario that both the Council and Hiver opfors have been working on, so if they're having trouble figuring out who would win, you certainly won't be able to. The original question, regarding current Hiver military strength in comparison to that of the Council races, can be quickly answered. The Hiver Imperium has officially declared the maximum allowed number of dreadnought strength vessels, and a number of cruiser and frigate strength vessels roughly equal to that of the Asari Republics. This obviously does not include any 'off the books' ships we or the asari may possess. As for Blackwatch's comment about the uselessness of Hiver weapons against barriers, I can respond with just one word: Lancers.


	6. Justice (Story)

_I'm back, and it's Tarka time! Tarka language is very confusing, so sorry if I got the grammar wrong in certain areas. I did some research, and think I have it down though. _

_It is also important to note for the purposes of this story that Saal Var'Tars is not an example of a typical Changed male. He is a seasoned combat veteran, and is to normal Tarka what a Battle Master is to normal Krogan. A fairer match would be a normal Changed male verses an Asari commando. But that's boring, and I can't think of a good reason for a commando unit to take on the Spears that wouldn't be a borderline act of war._

* * *

"Stand aside. My Code will not allow me to yield on this issue."

"Just wait, Stumpy. I'm no happier with this than you are," Saal Var'Tars Law grumbled, glaring down at the small blue figure in gold and red before him. The wind howled around the entrance bridge of the skyscraper they stood on, making him feel the chill even through his armor. Angrily, he pawed at the cyber communicator built into his wrist. "Control, our new guest is getting impatient, as am I. Did our client agree to the additional charge or not?"

As Var'Tars spoke, the asari before him quietly pulled out a large pistol and waved her omnitool over it. A panel slid out, revealing a glowing green box. The alien removed the box and slotted in another, this one a brilliant chrome, before sliding the panel shut again.

"I will not ask again, Tarkasian. Give me my prey, or I will go through you to get to her." The asari pointedly did not holster her weapon. The four unchanged males around Var'Tars tightened their grips on their rifles, but did not quite flinch. "Should you yield, I, Justicar Phora, solemnly swear no harm will come to you. But should you defend that criminal, I swear just as solemnly that neither you nor your men will live to see another sunset."

"Oh, now I'm almost considering renewing the contract for free, just to see you try and back that up," Var'Tars replied with a harsh laugh, pulling out his Vac Hammer and tossing it once or twice in the air experimentally. "I hear you Justicars are supposed to be something else. Be nice to get a challenge for once."

"Saal, our client has agreed to the additional protection fee," a female voice announced through Var'Tars' communicator. "You are free to take care of our guest."

Before the voice had even finished speaking, Phora's gun snapped up, shooting two of Var'Tars' men in their unarmored heads before unleashing a biotic blast that hurled Var'Tars back almost eight feet. The other two Tarka opened fire with their rifles, but Phora sheathed herself in a blue biotic glow and jumped backward, leaping almost ten feet into the air to land gently behind a nearby hover car.

Gesturing with one hand, she lifted one of the Tarka and the crates he had been hiding behind up into the air and contemptuously flicked them over the edge of the skyscraper's bridge, letting him plummet to his death.

The last male threw a grenade over the edge of the car, but Phora caught it in midair with her biotics, firing it back at him with ballistic velocities. It exploded instantly on impact, reducing the hapless soldier to drifting red mist. Emerging from cover, Phora turned to face her last opponent, just in time to catch Var'Tars' thrown Vac Hammer in the middle of her chest.

"Not bad," Tars admitted, swatting aside several nearby crates with one huge fist as he lumbered forward. "But not good enough, Justicar."

"You should have stood aside, mercenary, " Phora wheezed, slowly rising to her feet and clutching at her side in pain. Then she straighted, pointing her pistol unerringly at the Saal's head. "Only a fool throws away her only weapon."

"Who said anything about throwing away a weapon?"Var'Tars flexed his hand, and his Vac Hammer shot back into his grasp instantly. He smiled toothily. "We're just getting started, Stumpy."

Var'Tars charged forward, just as Phora fired five shots at his head. But this time, Var'Tars' armored hand was already up, blocking the bullets. The armor-piercing rounds tore into the living steel with ease, but even at such great speeds, the bullets were not large enough to cut through completely, and with his adrenaline up, the Changed male barely felt the pain.

Phora flashed to the side in a glowing blue blur, unleashing a biotic shove that would send Tars hurtling off the bridge. But with agility she would never have expected from something so large, the Tarka rolled, dodging the shove and swinging his hammer in a vicious backhand that would reduce the Asari's chest to mush.

With a grimace, she sent biotic power rushing and caught the hammer with her bare hand, biotic field blazing as she strained against the Tarka's muscles. With her free hand, she raised her pistol to shoot Var'Tars in the back of the head, only to see his muscular tail a split second before it slammed into her face, sending her flying.

She hit the side of another nearby car with enough force to shatter the windows and dent the metal, only her reinforced Justicar armor preventing her from being smashed to paste by the impact. Her pistol had landed several yards away, and Var'Tars charged again, raising his hammer to finish her for good.

As Var'Tars smashed forward like a juggernaut, he saw the asari slap something on the car behind her before flipping backward with the grace and speed only a master biotic could manage. He had just enough time to wonder what she had been doing when the car exploded in his face.

"Impressive," Phora remarked, walking calmly toward her lost weapon as Var'Tars started to pick himself up, blood flowing from numerous wounds. "Nothing but a Krogan would have survived a point-blank blast like that. But this battle is over."

"Not until I say it is!" Var'Tars howled, leaping forward to tackle the Justicar to the ground, smashing the pavement beneath them to powder as he pinned her under his bulk. "Any last words, Stumpy?"

"Yes. Find peace in the embrace of the Goddess," Phora answered calmly, and Var'Tars suddenly noticed the pistol she held under his chin. She fired six times directly into his face, and the hulking Tarka finally slumped, collapsing lifelessly on top of her.

Wearily, the Justicar pushed the dead Tarka off her with the help of her biotics, climbing to her feet. She surveyed with battle with a tired expression, holding her injured ribs with her free hand while she holstered her pistol and reached for her medigel. In that instant, a blazing column of light slice into her back, burning through her armor to blast out the other side of her chest. Phora dropped like a stone, smoke rising from the hole burned through her chest.

"They always focus on the males," a dark-clad figure remarked from where she crouched in hiding at the other end of the bridge, lowering her rifle and pulling down the mask covering her face. "Control, this is Ranger Sara. Tell the humans their new laser rifle works as advertised."

Walking over to the fallen Justicar, she checked the Asari's vitals and noticed with some surprise that she was still alive, if only just.

"Call the local police as well. Tell them Justicar Phora attacked us, and we were force to shoot her in self-defense. She is alive, but might not be that way for long," Sara smiled to herself. "Then contact our client and tell her she might want to spring for another squad or two of Spears for when that Justicar gets out of the hospital…"

_One month later, Justicar Phora released herself from the hospital over the protests of the staff. The next day, a local Asari business woman, accused by many of being the head of the ruthless smuggling ring Blood Moon, was found dead, her torso crushed by a heavy impact. It was also noted by investigators that several weeks prior the business woman had terminated her contract with the mercenary organization Silver Spears in favor of a contract with Eclipse. The Eclipse security detail was found on the scene, slaughtered in their entirety. Justicar Phora departed the system before she could be questioned about the incident. _


	7. Escape (Story)

_So its been a little while since I posted a new chapter. I have many excuses, but the gist is that life is a pain and I don't get paid to write this thing, more's the pity. _

_My veteran readers are probably looking around and wondering who the heck gutted this story, since the mass of Codex I had weighing things down at the beginning has been pulled in favor of an even Story/Codex ratio. I decided it was just turning too many readers off, so I yanked it. It will all be edited and reposted eventually, but only after I have enough story written to go with it. _

_So here is the end of the Human/Turian War, in all its glory. Writing space battles is actually quite hard to make exciting without jumping into omniscient narrator mode and just describing the ships going by. Hopefully I succeeded. Similarly, keeping the factions balanced was a pain, and I'm quite positive that I have offended both SotS and Mass Effect fans equally with this one._

_Special thanks go out to Angela Kip, my beta reader, for helping me make this chapter not totally suck. Thanks also to Achronus for consulting on SotS tactics and weapons. _

* * *

"Five minutes until we reach the relay, Admiral Turrinus."

"Thank you," he replied from where he stood staring broodingly at the tactical map. "Begin charging our point defense systems, and open a channel to the rest of the fleet."

"Channel open," his executive officer, a promising young officer named Horatius, replied obediently.

"Men, we are only a few minutes out from the relay now. I understand that this campaign has been a long one, and fraught with disaster," the Admiral began, standing up straighter automatically as he began addressing his men. "Our foes have been clever and tenacious. They have surprised us with strange technology at every turn and hounded us in every system we explored. But I take comfort in the fact that no matter how dark the hour, you have never failed to live up to my expectations of you."

"I know that having to scuttle the _Vigilant_, the _Unbreakable_, and the _Valorous_ was difficult. I know that retreating in the face of the enemy is even more so. But you have stood firm through it all like true Turian soldiers, and for that, I am proud of you."

"We now face the final hurdle. The enemy has certainly left more surprises for us to find, but we will persevere like we always have. Stay true to yourselves, to your comrades, and to your race, and I have no doubt we will be victorious. And when we return, and return we shall, it will be with a the full might of the Council on our side to crush these aliens. You know your duty. Admiral Turrinus out."

"Admiral, private channel coming in from the _Paragon_," Horatius called almost as soon as Turrinus had closed the communication.

"That will be Captain Salvia," the admiral remarked with a weary smile. He and Salvia had quite a bit of history, and had served together on many occasions. They were even friends, though both were careful to make sure their friendship did not interfere with their duties. "Put her through."

"You always did like your speeches," the female captain's voice said, distorted slightly through the speakers. "Now what are we really heading into?"

"A trap," he answered gravely, leaning over the command rail and folding his hands together in front of his face. "The relay is a bottleneck, and the enemy knows it. They laid a trap for our reenforcements, and I have no doubt they have something similar planned for us now."

"Mines won't be nearly as effect when we aren't just coming out of a Relay jump," Salvia pointed out. "They won't get us the same way again."

"Since when have they ever bothered with the same trick twice? First it was that damn FTL of theirs, then UV lasers, beam weapons, and energy torpedoes! In ships smaller than our frigates! Make no mistake, Salvia, they are going to make us bleed for that relay somehow. I just haven't figured out how yet."

"Well, you should be just fine either way in the _Fidelis_. They still haven't thrown anything at us that can take out a dreadnought. Cheer up. This damned campaign's almost over, one way or another. _Paragon_ out."

The channel closed, and Turrinus was left staring broodingly at tactical display before him, as though if he glared hard enough at it, it would reveal whatever strange trick the humans had planned for him. A small notification in the display began blinking, indicating that they were about to arrive.

"All ships, red alert," he commanded, straightening up again. "Give me a full sensor sweep as soon as we drop out of FTL, I want to know exactly what is out there."

No sooner had he spoken than the _Fidelis _slowed with a subtle jerk of deceleration. The bridge windows had closed their shutters some time ago, so the turian admiral was forced to wait for the sensors to finish their sweep of the area before he would know what he was facing.

"Spirits…" he gasped as the display instantly lit up with a huge cloud of red. "They beat us here. There must have been a Node line to this system that wasn't on the map!"

"Sensor contacts confirm this is the same fleet we encountered at Excalibur," Horatius confirmed from his station to Turrinus' left. "They have turned to face us and are advancing at interception speeds. Orders, Admiral?"

"Start firing the main guns at their larger ships, prioritize targets toward the flanks. It won't take long for them to move out of our bow arcs. Order every other cruiser on the edge of our formation to spin and give us dorsal and ventral coverage with their broadside guns. As soon as the enemy ships begin firing, let the frigates off their leash and tell them to engage at will. Ships with heavy beam weapons are still a priority target. Don't bother deploying fighters, we can't wait to collect them before the jump, and they'd just get mauled by the enemy's lasers."

"High energy fields have begun forming in front of the enemy ships to our front, Admiral. Pulling up an image now."

A two dimensional video of one of the larger enemy ships appeared, flanked by several of their smaller escort ships. Both the larger and smaller ships were projecting some type of barrier in a half-circle in front of them.

"So they do have barriers," Turrinus commented darkly. "Let's find out just how powerful they are. All ships, fire at will!"

Dozens of bow cannons spoke at once, but the massive salvo was almost completely ineffective, almost all the shots missing the smaller enemy ships. But the second volley followed swiftly after, followed by a third and a forth. Eventually the sheer volume of shells began to make a difference, and several of the larger enemy ships began to disappear from the display. The shielded ships were a different story, however.

"They're deflecting it!" his eyes widened in amazement as he watched one of the _Fidelis_' shots literally skip off the shields of a ship small enough to easily land on the dreadnought's hull. "How is that even possible?"

"Sensors report some kind of condensed particle field projected from the prows of the larger ships. The smaller ships appear to mount them in the middle of the ship, probably due to the device's size," Horatius announced, glancing up from the numerous datafeeds pouring into his terminal. "It only covers the forward section of the enemy ships, however."

"For all the good that does us, we'll never get our cruisers to their rear," Turrinus snarled before glaring down at the video feed again. "Doesn't look like it is infallible, though."

A round appeared to have penetrated the cruiser's shield, and the shot had literally smashed the small ship to splinters, shattered bits of armor and hull drifting away from the remains of the ring-shaped engine section.

"The enemy has reached missile range, Admiral," Horatius stated, though Turrinus could obviously see the small yellow icons of enemy missiles appearing and flying toward their fleet. "Sensors indicate these missiles are somewhat larger than the ones used in previous engagements."

"Take them out before they can get close," he ordered before returning to watch the enemy ships approaching their flanks. "I don't want whatever new surprise they have in those getting anywhere close to our ships."

The laser point defense grids made short work of the handful of missiles, though he noticed the enemy continued firing even though not a single missile made it even closer than a kilometer to their ships.

"Scan where those missiles were destroyed," Turrinus commanded suddenly as he noticed a pattern in the missile barrage. "Something is wrong. It's almost as though they don't care if the missiles are shot down."

"Sensors report nothing abnormal, though there is a lot of fine debris distorting the returns," Horatius replied quickly, sifting through his datafeeds. "Enemy ships should be entering beam range in just a few moments."

"Order the frigates to break off an engage. Point defense turrets should focus on the beam and torpedo equipped smaller ships, use the broadsides against the larger ones."

The display promptly exploded in a storm of colors as the enemy ships opened fire with their powerful forward beam weapons and the turians returned the favor with their broadside guns and point defense lasers.

The enemy ships operated with a precision Turrinus could almost admire, focusing all their shots on a specific spot of a specific ship before moving on to a new target. The ones near the flanks actually halted their forward thrusts, firing thrusters to spin themselves sideways and drift past, raking the turian cruisers with their full firepower.

"The _Gladius_ and _Benevolent _are both reporting heavy damage, Admiral. Their spinal guns are out, and the _Gladius_ is reporting damage to its broadsides as well. Several other ships are also reporting damage, and several have reported that their GARDIAN lasers have been disabled."

"As we expected, the lasers are our most effect way of targeting their smaller ships," the admiral told the empty air, glowering down at the display again. His fleet had probably already inflicted more damage to the enemy in just a few minutes than they had in the entire rest of the campaign combined, but now it was the aliens' turn, and they were making the most of it.

The turian frigates were darting through the enemy formations, but they had neither the firepower to take out the larger ships in one shot nor the agility to bring their spinal weapons against the smaller ones. They didn't have enough GARDIANs to be a serious threat against the alien formations either, not with the way even the smaller alien ships simply sprayed out UV laser fire in all directions.

"Admiral, our forward ships are reporting serious corrosion on their prows!" Horatius announced with alarm in his voice. "It's already breeched the hull of the _Vengeful _in three places!"

"What? How did that miss our inspections?"

"It didn't, no ships reported any kind of abnormal corrosion. It must be artificial, sir. Judging from the spread and the new damage reports I'm getting in, it looks like some kind of nanite attack."

"Nanites?" Turrinus asked, before it dawned on him. "The missiles! We didn't destroy them, they detonated themselves, right where we would fly into them."

"Sir, the _Vengeful_ just reported a bulkhead collapse. They've lost almost their entire forward section, including the spinal gun."

"Damn! Track those missiles! Don't let any of our ships get within a kilometer of the nanite clouds. Time to relay?"

"Two minutes before the first ships can start making the jump. Sir, to avoid the clouds, we'll have to break formation."

"I know, Horatius." The admiral sighed and straightened to his full height. "Our fleet is getting mauled out there. We just have to say alive for two more minutes. The enemy already has us right where they want us. At this point, letting the enemy inside our formation is preferable to sending the entire fleet blindly into those nanite clouds."

Horatius merely nodded and returned to his screen. Turrinus watched gravely as the fleet began to slowly split around the areas highlighted as nanite clouds. As they had feared, the enemy pounced almost immediately, their smaller ship weaving through the larger turian cruisers to settle in areas with the least weapon coverage. Their small laser weapons began tearing into the turian armor, the sheer volume of fire more than making up for their lower yield.

Seconds ticked passed in silence as the lights of the tactical display flickered and several more enemy contacts vanished, destroyed by lucky broadsides or repeated laser hits. The fleet was close to the relay now, but the enemy ships were swarming like wasps, stabbing into the turian ships viciously with their beams and lasers.

"Several cruisers are reporting damage to their engines," Horatius announced suddenly, breaking the heavy blanket of silence. "They are being forced to reduce speed."

"How many ships?"

"Four, no, the _Paragon_ just reported damage as well, so that makes five," the executive officer quickly replied. "It appears the enemy has begun specifically targeting our engines to prevent our retreat."

"We'd have no chance of making a relay jump just using inertia," Turrinus agreed with a grim expression. "Redeploy the frigates, have them try and keep the enemy off our rear."

With a muted electronic *blip*, one of the green cruiser icons vanished from the display, the small red icons surrounding it scattering to focus on new targets.

"Which ship did we lose?" the admiral asked with weary resignation.

"The _Benevolent_, sir. The drive core was hit by one of their beam cruisers. All hands lost."

"They won't be the last," he stated flatly. "Slow our advance to try and protect the damaged ships. How long until our forward ships reach the relay?"

"30 seconds before they can start plotting their jumps."

"Tell them not to worry about precision, anywhere that isn't here will be fine."

"Aye, admiral," Horatius replied, just as two more electronic chimes chorused. "The _Vengeful_ and _Gladius_, admiral. Another drive core detonation, and the _Vengeful_- sir, new contacts have appeared! They were hiding behind the relay!"

A video image appeared in the display, showing a half-dozen new ships, all sporting the same large ring drives as the other alien ships. These were must larger than anything they had previously encountered, three times the size of the largest enemy ships. They appeared to be even more packed with firepower, beam mounts and large turrets fixed to almost every surface. Two even mounted the deflection shields, though the others appeared to be equally well equipped, either with weapons or other strange technology.

"Dreadnoughts," Turrinus guessed as the new contacts began moving into firing position near the relay. "They hid to keep us from targeting them with our spinal guns at the beginning of the battle."

"I'm picking up a lot of communications traffic from the rear-most ship. It appears to be a command ship of some type."

"Prioritize it as a primary target. If anything that still has a spinal gun can shoot at it, I want them shooting!"

The display began to chime again as the first alien dreadnoughts entered firing range, opening up with their massive arsenals on the lead Turian ships. Three cruisers died in moments as their weakened hulls gave out under the assault. The dreadnoughts spun on the spot, already tracking new targets.

The video feed of the enemy flagship showed several spinal rounds flashing past, but even with its larger size, it was still a small target, and spinal weaponry was very difficult to use at such close range. The two or three shots that did hit splashed harmlessly off its shield. One round finally slipped through and smashed into the ship's side, but unlike the smaller cruisers, this one appeared to be significantly more durable. The damage was extensive, but the ship remained intact.

"We can't keep this up," he realized as another cruiser disappeared from the display. "If we slow, the dreadnoughts will eat us alive. We have to break through."

"Sir?" Horatius asked, confused.

"Order all ships to full speed, make for the relay. Then cut the _Fidelis_' engines. Any ship that can't make the relay in under two minutes should also cut engines."

"Admiral, I don't understand."

"The _Fidelis_ is obviously our flagship, and can handle a lot more fire than the cruisers, especially our more damaged ones. We're staying behind to hold them off. Anything they fire at us is a shot that won't be fired at our cruisers."

"…as you command, Admiral."

"Given the circumstances, I think you can call me Turrinus," the admiral said with a grin. He felt strange, like a great weight had been lifted from his shoulders. "Now bring our spinal gun to bear on that flagship. If we're going down, I plan on bringing as much company with us as I can."

"Aye si-Turrinus," Horatius agreed, flashing him a grim smile. "_Paragon _is hailing us."

"Go ahead," the admiral ordered casually as he watched the fleet begin to split, the undamaged ships leaping ahead toward the relay while the more damaged ones remained behind. This new tactic seemed to confuse the aliens for a moment, before they quickly regrouped and began focusing on the escaping ships, largely ignoring the wounded ones.

"Admiral, with all due respect, have you gone insane? Get out of here!" Salvia yelled in frustration, though there was a great deal of static in the background. "Your ship is fine!"

"It's also the only thing that can do enough damage to get the enemy fleet's attention and keep it. My decision is final, Salvia," he explained, nodding in satisfaction as he felt the spinal gun begin to fire beneath him and watched the shots begin zipping past the alien flagship. "Take the _Paragon_ and go. We'll cover your retreat."

"Not going to happen," Salvia replied with resignation in her voice. "My engines are shot. The engineers say anything more than twenty five percent thrust and we'll probably blow the whole back end of the ship off."

"I guess this is it then."

"I guess so. It was a pleasure serving with you, Admiral."

"The pleasure was mine, Captain. See you on the other side."

"Ha. I'll save you a seat."

The connection cut out, and the bridge went quiet again. On the display, Turrinus watched grimly as a lucky shot finally got through the deflector, smashing the damaged dreadnought cleanly in half. It was too late to make any kind of difference, however. Another cruiser was dropping back from the escape formation, its entire stern shredded by laser fire.

"Patch me in to all the ships that will be staying behind," he commanded, glaring down at the swarming red lights on the tactical display.

"It's done," Horatius said a moment later, eyes still flashing quickly over the endless streams of data that crossed his screen.

"There is not much time, so I will make this short. For any of this fleet to have a chance, some of us must be sacrificed. We are that sacrifice," Turrinus began, addressing the air before him with his chin held high. "I am reminded of an old turian saying that is often scoffed at by salarians and asari. 'Only in death does duty end.' We are not dead yet. We will fulfill our duty and protect our comrades with our very lives."

"Launch every spaceworthy craft in every hanger on every ship. Hammer them with shells until the guns run dry. Fire the GARDIANs until they melt. When your ammo has run dry and your lasers are slag, charge your barriers and ram them!"

"Never forget, we are the Seventh Fleet! We will not stop fighting while we still have breath in our bodies! We will make sure neither our comrades nor our foes ever forget this day. This is the day we prove what we are really made of! All ships, engage at will! It's time to show these aliens how a turian dies."

_Almost a third of the Seventh fleet did not make it back through Relay 317. Of the ships that escaped, over half had to be placed in dry-dock for several months to repair the extensive damage they received. Several ships were so heavily damaged that they could not be repaired. SolForce claims their casualty count for the battle was approximately forty percent of the defense fleet, with ten percent of the remaining ships requiring extensive repairs. Included in those numbers were four of its six dreadnoughts, as well as a significant portion of its cruiser compliment. _


	8. The Citadel Truce (Codex)

_Sorry everyone. Just another Codex entry this time. Those of you who have been following this story from the beginning will probably be the most disappointed, since you've already seen this one before. However, read it anyway because this is the new, upgraded version! Much better written, and the terms of the Truce have changed a bit, since I thought that in retrospect the original wasn't something the Council would have willingly agreed to. _

_Thoughts? Comments? Concerns? Want me to stop mucking about and just get back to the bits with the lasers? Leave a review! _

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**Codex: The Citadel Truce**

Following the Human/Turian War, ambassadors from all four races in the Orion Alliance were invited to the Citadel to discuss a cessation of hostilities. The result of these peace talks was the Citadel Truce. Despite the name, the Citadel Truce only deals with the existing hostilities in a peripheral capacity, forcing the Turian Hierarchy to pay reparations to SolForce for the destruction of Shanxi and effectively ending the conflict.

The primary purpose of the Citadel Truce was to outline the conditions to allowing the Orion Alliance races to join the Citadel races. The humans and Tarkasians, were largely against the idea of joining the Citadel, especially objecting to the idea of Spectres and dreadnought limitation. Following several days of deliberation, a compromise was reached. While members of several races have since voiced their unhappiness with the final terms of the Citadel Truce, it has not been altered since, despite pressure from the Turian Hierarchy and Hiver Imperium.

Under the stipulations set forth by the Citadel Truce, humanity, the Hiver Imperium, the Tarkasian Empire, and the Liir were all recognized as associate members of the Citadel Council. They were given all the rights and privileges of that status, including the ability to petition for Council membership, something all Orion races save the Liir would do within the decade following the Citadel Truce's signature.

The Orion races were bound by all Citadel Conventions, save for one. The small size of the Orion races' ships put even their largest dreadnoughts easily under the limitations of the Treaty of Farixen. Due to the power of the beam weapons mounted in these ships, the Council amended the treaty to classify dreadnoughts by combined weapon yield, not by ship length. This caused understandable protest from the Orion races, as all four races currently had more dreadnoughts deployed than they would be allowed under the revised treaty.

In light of the distrust brought on by the Human/Turian War and the size of the existing Orion fleets, the Council agreed to allow the Orion races an exception to the treaty. Instead of being limited to one dreadnought per every three a Council species possesses, Orion races were to be limited to two for every three, effectively doubling the amount of dreadnoughts they would be allowed. SolForce still protested this limitation, however the Council refused to budge on the issue, and humanity eventually agreed.

The existence and power of Spectres was also a major sticking point, one the Council was unwilling to compromise on. The Orion races were reluctant to allow what were at that time agents of an alien nation, free access and unlimited authority in their domains, while the Council insisted that Spectre authority be recognized to ensure that the Orion races complied with the new Citadel laws they would be subject to. In the end, another compromise was reached. The Orion races agreed to recognize Spectre authority, provided that the Council immediately begin recruiting Spectres from all four Orion races. A final stipulation, one heavily protested by the Turian Hierarchy, stated that at least twelve candidates, three from each Orion nation, must be made into Spectres with a year. The Hierarchy felt that mandatory inclusion of a certain number of Spectre candidates would force them to accept candidates that would not normally meet their strict selection criteria, but their concerns were overruled and would later prove unfounded. All twelve Orion Spectres performed to satisfaction, and several are still in service.

The final stipulation, which was suggested by both parties, was that no race is permitted to use the FTL method of any other race. Until their discovery of the races in the Orion Arm, the Council was unaware that alternative FTL methods existed, while the Orion races had dealt with alternative FTL methods for many years and had dozens of safeguards put in place around their drive technology to prevent its theft by other races. Mass Effect drives were still twice as fast as the fastest existing Orion drive system, and their ubiquity meant it would not be hard for Orion races to acquire a working example to copy. The Council was especially leery of the Hiver Imperium gaining access to this technology, as the only restriction on their expansion was that they lacked FTL drives. In turn the Orion races did not want to risk the Council races gaining access to any of their drive technology, as this would allow the Council to undertake prolonged deep-space trips without having to discharge their drive cores. As this was the only thing currently preventing the Council races from easily accessing the entire Orion Arm, the other races agreed. The Hiver Imperium protested, as this would effectively make it illegal for them to utilize any known method of FTL, but under heavy political pressure from humanity and the Tarkasians, they eventually backed down.

In the years following the signature of the treaty, there have been several attempts by different races to alter its terms. SolForce has made several petitions to increase the amount of dreadnoughts allowed, and the Hiver Imperium has made no secret of its desire for alternate FTL methods. On the Council side, the Turian Primarch, with the support of the Volus and other Associate Member races, has made several petitions to the Council in an attempt to limit the number of dreadnoughts available to Orion species, include battleriders and carriers in dreadnought yield calculations, and include a new 'super-dreadnought' class of vessel to counter the alleged 'Leviathans' under construction by Orion races. The Council has currently denied all attempts to amend the treaty.


	9. Humanity (Codex)

_Aw, another Codex entry? Sadly, yes. It's a boring one too, especially for those of you familiar with SotS, since humanity's backstory is essentially unchanged, with just a few tweaks here and there. There some nice diplomacy bits at the end if you like that sort of thing though! _

_The one is mostly for those coming from the Mass Effect side, who are probably royally confused by all this nonsense. Don't worry, the other SotS races will be coming soon, which should help with your confusion. As usual, I try to respond to all criticism, and all my chapters are open for rewriting if you can convince me I made a mistake somewhere, so if you have a problem with anything, please let me know. Other than that, enjoy! _

_Next time will be a story chapter, I promise. __Now, if only I could figure out what to write..._

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_"Offer one hand and arm the other. Not a bad way to handle foreign policy, human."_  
-Ambassador Orinia

_ "Our people still have not forgotten the sight of Turian ships raining down fire from on high. Remember that, Councilor, next time you seek to lecture me on human paranoia."_  
-Ambassador Udina

**Humanity**

Humanity is a very recent addition to the galactic scene, and is the youngest of the races in the Orion Arm. They also have the most violent history of any race save the krogan. Approximately four hundred years ago, humanity's homeworld of Earth began a limited ecosystem collapse due to over-harvesting of existing resources and due to the pollutants created by humanity's various power sources at that time. This collapse continued for over a century, melting both polar regions and flooding hundreds of major metropolitan zones. Millions of species were rendered extinct, and billions of humans were left dead or destitute. The lack of resources coupled with this surplus of population without homes or livelihoods created great national tension, until several major wars broke out. This period of conflict lasted another century, and involved several limited nuclear exchanges. In the end, the conflicts ceased largely due to the fact that no faction had the population or energy to continue fighting.

Between the ecological damage and the numerous wars, approximately 70% of the human population of the planet had been killed, and the various nations had reformed into a handful of hegemonies. But unlike the krogan, who were willing to continue their conflicts without regard to their own survival, humanity learned from their past mistakes, and set about rebuilding. In the next century, humanity repopulated the planet and rebuilt their destroyed infrastructure, the new human governments more willing to negotiate their problems in light of their previous conflicts. It was during this period of rebuilding that the Node Drive was discovered, sadly costing the life of the scientist who designed it.

Unfortunately, the launch of humanity's first interstellar colonization mission was interrupted by the arrival of a rogue Hiver nesting fleet, led by Princess Obsidian Crown. The fleet was fleeing their defeat in the civil war that currently waged over the throne, and sought a planet to rebuild their numbers. They did not care that the planet they had found was already populated. The _Nova Maria,_ humanity's first and only FTL capable craft was destroyed almost instantly, and the Hivers bombarded the planet with impunity for almost 48 hours.

Only humanity's warlike past saved them. The curator's of humanity's ancient nuclear weapon stockpiles, unused for over a century, were reactivated and launched all at once. Three thousand fusion and fission missiles were launched at the invaders, completely obliterating all but their flagship, which was heavily damaged and limped off to parts unknown. SolForce and the Hiver Imperium are still attempting to locate Princess Obsidian Crown, but have thus far been without success.

Under this threat of alien attack, humanity expanded rapidly, colonizing nearby systems and destroying several Hiver colonies. Along the way, they encountered both the Liir and Tarka, and entered into a strained peace with both after rocky first contacts. Once the truth of Obsidian Crown's attack was revealed, humanity and the Hivers agreed to a cease fire that eventually settled into a cold war, interrupted only by their discovery of the Zuul. This cold war turned to an alliance when a human exploratory fleet stumbled upon Relay 314 and was attacked by a turian patrol, sparking off the Human/Turian War and causing humanity to quickly seek aid against this unknown threat.

Humanity is ostensibly a collection of densely populated space colonies and hegemonies that are all self-governing, but in practice, humanity as a whole is represented by SolForce. SolForce controls colonization, immigration, manufacturing, foreign policy, all space and marine forces, inter-stellar trade, among other things. In fact, many who do not have extensive dealings with humanity are under the mistaken impression that SolForce is humanity, as there is very little opportunity for aliens to interact with humans that are not affiliated in some way with SolForce without visiting a human colony.

SolForce was created to defend humanity from extra-terrestrial threats, and as the percentage of money spend on humanity's military rivals that of the Turian Hierarchy. This fact has caused no end of diplomatic nightmares, as the constant military spending has forced virtually all members of the Orion Arm to continue building up their own fleets, and has caused an increase in military spending in Council space as well.

Humans are physically weak compared to races like the Zuul, Hivers, or krogan, and as such they have invested heavily in ways to equalize this gap. Their marines and ground forces wear a form of powered armor called Brawler Powered Battle Armor, which provides a number of advantages to the wearer. In addition to providing excellent protection, it also powers heavy weapons that can be integrated directly into the suit, magnifies the users strength by a considerable margin, and certain variants even include mass effect shields or functioning jet propulsion for limited flight. Humanity also spearheaded the creation of the omni-blade, which allows SolForce personnel to have a potent melee weapon at hand at all times. It is difficult to find a human omni-tool that does not have omni-blade technology equipped.

Unlike the Tarka, who prefer direct solutions to their problems, SolForce maintains an extensive intelligence-gathering agency, known as SolForce Intellegence Corp, or SIC. It functions much like the turian Blackwatch or salarian STG, and its operatives are often selected as Spectre candidates. SIC is separated into divisions based on race, with each division and race assigned a specific color. Red represents the Tarkasian Empire, yellow the Hiver Imperium. The Liir are represented by teal, and blue for Council races. Orange represents Zuul, and purple represents the Morrigi Confederation. White is reserved for non-sentient species, and black deals with unidentified creatures and artifacts. Green is an internal division, tracking human ships, colonies, and signals.

While SolForce maintains a high degree of military spending, this overlaps with an extremely large R&D budget, surpassed only by that of the Salarian Union. Humanity has shown little interest in technology without some form of military application, though they have show an innate cleverness in turning virtually any technology toward military use when given enough time. Though they are reluctant to cooperate with other species in most areas, they have engaged in several joint research projects which had yielded impressive results. Medigel was the result of a join Liir-Human research project.

Inter-species relations can be quite complicated. Collectively, humans are paranoid xenophobes, constantly preparing for the next war and trusting other races only when they absolutely have to. Individually, humans are extremely social and can often be quite accepting of different individuals and cultures, though SolForce military personnel often seem to have an instinctive distrust of aliens, especially those they perceive to be threatening, such as turians or krogan.

Humans seem to get along best with the asari. The similarity in appearance is noticeable, and is believed to create an increased sense of empathy with the asari. Unfortunately, the asari and SolForce are philosophically opposed, asari preferring to deal with other races through diplomacy and assimilation. The warlike stance and xenophobia demonstrated by humanity have caused some unfortunate stereotypes within the asari, which can be difficult for humans to overcome at first. The asari tend to view humans as impulsive and violent children, and this condescending attitude often causes hostility in humans, who view the asari's technological stagnation in comparison to their own rapid growth to be a sign of incompetence and weakness.

Salarians and humans get along well in the field of science, as both races are extremely creative and results driven. Humanity's natural paranoia is somewhat alarming to salarians, though they do tend to find some amusement in humanity's obsession with bigger and more powerful ships instead of focusing on smaller, stealthier vessels like they and the Liir prefer. SolForce is extremely wary of the Salarian Union, largely due to their fondness for overwhelming first strikes that hit without warning. Politically, the two races rarely get along, and neither trusts the other further than they can be safely hurled.

Interestingly, the closest thing humanity has to an ally in the Council is the Turian Hierarchy. The turians agreed that their actions during the Human/Turian War were unjustified, and felt that humanity fought well. Their own stratocracy means that they empathize greatly with SolForce, which in essence a stratocracy itself. They find humans individually to be a bit too undisciplined and irresponsible for their tastes, but they admire how quickly humanity can come together to face a collective threat. Human and turian tactics are somewhat similar, though humanity places more emphasis on larger ships than the turians do. Humans do not share this sentiment, however. They have never forgotten or forgiven the turians for the Human/Turian War, and are resentful for the turians' continued pressure for more military limitations in the Citadel Truce. If asked, most SolForce personnel would probably say they would love the chance to remind the turians what it feels like to be on the receiving end of an orbital bombardment for once. Repensum est Canicula.**  
**

SolForce has had no formal contact with the Migrant Fleet or krogan. Individual encounters with quarian ships have always resulted in live-and-let-live policy: so long as they stay out of human systems, SolForce doesn't care what they do. As a race, SolForce has written off the krogan as a threat. Without ships and with their population so low, they aren't a threat. Individually, humans find krogan to be somewhat comforting. Their temperament is very similar to that of Tarkasian Changed males, which is something humans are familiar with. And at least if krogan plan on shooting you, they'll do it to your face.


	10. Aftermath (Story)

_There's been some interest in seeing what the Liir/Batarian dynamic looked like once the Liir were done trying to commit xenocide, so let's take a look! I've been meaning to write this one for a while now, but was originally going to wait until after I wrote a Hiver story, for balance. Since I can't think of too many Hiver plots that grab me, we'll go with this instead._

_The Liir have a bit of a reputation for being the 'good guys' of SotS. They're super nice, very mystical, and only aggressive if severely provoked. I never liked that portrayal, as I find it to be very clichéd and boring. The Liir are CREEPY AS HELL when looked at the right way, and for races that are just starting to get used to the idea of psychic powers as something real, the way the Liir operate can be downright scary. Put that together with a post-xenocide occupation of the Batarians and you get a recipe for good times. _

_Not sure I like how this turned out in the end, but I'll let you all be the final judges. Like? Dislike? You know where the review button is. I'll do my best to fix whatever you find._

_Unfortunately, this may be the last update for a while. I just don't have the free time I used to, so I may have to take a bit of a break. If I can, I'll try and post the new Liir Codex soon, but no promises._

* * *

As the shuttle lifted off behind her, Elana T'Gori's dress flapped slightly in the high wind. She mentally congratulated herself on her choice of the more conservative human-style dress over an asari-style one, which would have left quite a bit more skin vulnerable to the winds of the shuttle port. As it stood, she still felt somewhat exposed, surrounded by armored turians going about their business with professional efficiency. As far as she knew, she was the only person on the base not wearing armor.

"Inspector T'Gori?" Someone called over the roar of the engines, and a turian male in blue field armor jogged up to her, helmet distorting his voice but amplifying it to be easily heard over the roar. "Let's get you somewhere else. Wouldn't look good if you got yourself squashed by a shuttle while you're wandering around the base."

The turian led her away from the shuttlepad, and Elana noticed that he seemed very well armed for how peaceful the planet was claimed to be. She noticed the distinctive shapes of a collapsed assault rifle and a sniper rifle, as well as a pistol strapped to his hip. Then again, it appeared almost everyone on this base was equally armed, so it might just be turian occupational regulations.

"There, that should get us out of everyone's way," the turian said, guiding her into a more secluded corner past one of the base's many prefabricated structures. "Welcome to Khar'shan, Inspector."

"Thank you," Elana replied graciously, before looking around in some confusion. "You wouldn't happen to know where my bags went, would you? I was told they had to be shipped down separately."

"Yeah, security is pretty tight around here," the turian explained calmly, pulling up his omni-tool. "They'll have to go through inspection to make sure you don't have any contraband before they'll ship it down. Should be here by the end of the day."

"Inspection? Why?" she asked, somewhat surprised.

"You want to know what even a pound of military grade explosives goes for on Khar'shan these days?" the turian asked, and though she couldn't see it, Elan was pretty sure his expression was somewhat wry. "There are always troublemakers who would love to get some high explosive revenge. The Liir have pretty much helped us put a stop to any organized resistance, but since the Council said we can't use hastatim or safe camps, we're limited with what we can do against individuals."

"I take it the Batarians are not integrating well with the Liir then?" Elan asked, silently triggering the hidden recording function of her omni-tool.

Her whole mission here was to make sure the rights of both species were being respected, as well as to assess the reconstruction efforts. It was her first assignment, and she wanted to make sure the matriarchs knew she was different from the other maidens that wasted their youths in merc groups or in clubs. If the Liir and Batarians were fighting again, that was certainly something the Council would want to know.

"Depends on what you mean," the turian replied calmly, though she thought she saw his gaze drift down to her omni-tool for a moment. It was hard to tell with his helmet on. "The lower casts don't mind them much, though they get very nervous when one goes by. Not much left up the upper casts, not once the plague riots got through with them, anyway, so I can't speak for them. Mostly we just see attempted crimes of passion. Usually we get there in time to stop it, though if we can't, the Liir usually take care of it themselves."

"I take it you are working quite closely with the Liir then?" Elan asked suspiciously. "Are you working with the Batarians as well?"

"What's left of them," the turian answered, and when Elan looked confused, he continued. "Towards the end of the Extermination, the Batarians had suffered so many losses that it was impossible for them to keep deceiving their people. And when the lower castes found out…it didn't end well for the Batarian leadership."

"What do you mean? Are you saying they had a civil war?"

"More like a revolution. The lower castes figured that maybe if they got rid of their leadership, the Liir would be appeased and have mercy on the rest of them. I guess it worked, in a way. The extermination stopped shortly afterward." He stiffened, his tone turning more businesslike. "Now, would you like me to show you to your quarters?"

"Actually, I'd like to look around the city first," Elan stated calmly, glancing over the walls of the compound at the city beyond. "My luggage isn't here yet in any case, so I might as well spend the time getting the lay of the land."

"Well, I haven't received any orders otherwise, so you are free to explore the city," the turian said with a shrug, leading the way toward the compound's gate. "I'll have to go with you, for your safety. There's a lot of construction going on right now, so not everywhere is safe to just wander into."  
"You said that the revolution worked 'in a way.' Could you explain what you meant by that?" she asked as they passed through the compound's gate, security drones scanning them both thoroughly before the large metal doors swung open.

"Liir don't really understand the separation between species and government. They're a collectiveist government, which works for them because they're all telepathic. But because of that, they have trouble understanding how other governments can take actions that go against the wishes of the majority of their race. They understand it academically, but when it comes to making judgments, they tend to assume that the government is just a mouthpiece for the people."

"So when they declared war, they weren't declaring war on the Hegemony, they were declaring war on the batarians themselves?"

"That's what the xenopsychologists say, anyway," he confirmed, the wry note returning to his tone as he led her out into the street. As they moved away from the compound, Elan noticed fewer and fewer turian soldiers, and started seeing her first batarians since she arrived on Khar'shan. They seemed…smaller, somehow. They didn't appear afraid, though she noticed they carefully avoided making eye contact with the turian soldiers. It was more like they were...beaten.

"Earlier, you mentioned that when there are problems, the Liir try to 'take care of it themselves' if you don't get there fast enough," Elan stated, returning to something that stuck out in their earlier conversation. "What did you mean? Do the Liir kill them?"

"Oh, definitely not," the turian said quickly, leading them around a corner and past a large construction site.

There, she got a good look at her first Liir. It was just standing there, completely encased in the strange armor they wore, mechanical tentacles sprouting from both sides to hold it aloft. It was lifting a crumbling section of building up into the air, where three batarians waited on a scaffold with plaster and cement to seal it back into the wall. She noticed that while the two groups worked with quick efficiency, neither group spoke to the other, and an armed guard was standing carefully off to the side, his assault rifle held carefully in his arms.

"We haven't found a single case of a Liir physically injuring anyone since we arrived," the turian explained, leading them away from the construction site. "They don't even fight back if they get attacked."

"So how do the Liir deal with these rogue batarians then? If they won't fight back…"

"They take away the batarian's pain," he answered gravely, and in a tone that indicated deep disgust. "We've asked them to stop, and for the most part, they have, but we still try to get there first. Just in case."

"I don't understand. Take away their pain?"

"Wow, they really do keep you inspectors like mushrooms, don't they?" the turian asked, turning to stare at her incredulously. "Liir can do a lot more than just read minds and move stuff around. They can get inside your head and rewrite your brain. Take away memories, change the way you think, maybe more."

"Goddess!" Elan exclaimed, and then her mind finished connecting the dots. "So why you say they took away the batarians' pain…"

"They literally took their pain away," he explained darkly. "The younger ones aren't very subtle yet, they just remove the memories that caused the pain. But the older ones, with a couple centuries under them?

"I knew a batarian once. He was an engineer, so we had him helping with the reconstruction. The man lost his whole family to the Extermination Plague. Wife, kids, everything. I talked with him once or twice. He wasn't a bad guy, but you could tell he wasn't all there anymore. He was on watch as a psych risk, so when he made off with a case of demo charges, we were after him almost instantly. This was before the new regulations regarding explosives, of course. They got locked down pretty fast after that.

"Anyway, we found him in the middle of his home, ready to blow himself up and take half the block with him. I wanted to just take him down with a sniper then storm the place with the bomb squad, but we got ordered to get back and let the negotiators try to defuse him. Problem was, the Liir didn't have the same red tape we did.

"One of them walked right through our checkpoint, and disarmed the bomb before we even got close. Right through the wall, couldn't even see the damn thing. Something to do with its echolocation or something. Anyway, then it smashed the door in with those tentacles on their suits, and walked right next to our bomber. Two minutes later, they both walk out, and the batarian turns himself in. Didn't even resist."

"Doesn't seem so bad," Elan pointed out carefully, though she knew there must be more to the story. "The Liir was able to peacefully resolve the situation without bloodshed."

"Yeah, but I talked with the batarian later. He was a totally different person. He was happy and smiling. I knew the guy for almost a month, he never smiled once." The turian led her down another street, and Elan sudden realized just how empty the city seemed. Compared to the streets on Thessia or the Citadel, the city was almost deserted. "I asked him about his family, and he said it just didn't bother him anymore. He remembered them, but they didn't make him sad or angry anymore. This was a guy who was so worked up over his family's deaths that he was ready to blow himself up, and take everyone else with him. And in two minutes, he just doesn't care anymore?"

"You mentioned that you've asked the Liir to stop taking away the batarians' pain?" she probed, fishing for more information as she changed the subject.

"Well, the higher-ups talked to their higher-ups," he answered with a shrug. "They were concerned about the possible long-term effects of the Liir's brain tinkering, as well as possible sentient rights violations. So now they're just stuck with traditional methods of brainwashing."

"Traditional methods?"

"You might have seen them on the way in," the turian said, pointed up at the sky. "The Liir sent two 'communication' ships shortly after the occupation began. We've got one of the best extranet connections you'll find outside the Citadel. And the batarians were not happy when they found out exactly how much their government had lied to them, either. It's actually helped quite a bit to keep the level of violence down."

"You say 'communication ships' like you mean something entirely different," Elan pointed out calmly.

"That's because they don't just provide a nice link to the extranet. The Liir were kind enough to hook the batarians into their networks as well, only the Liir don't really have networks the way we do. They're a telepathic collective, they don't need them, except when communicating across planets. So a lot of their data is designed to be viewed by aliens like us." The turian stopped and turned to face Elan, his voice going grave. "Imagine what kind of data files, vids, songs you would send if you had all the cunning and wisdom of an asari matriarch, and could look into their minds to see exactly what made the batarians tick. Propaganda tailored specifically for them. Just a theory, of course, we can't prove it, but…"

"You're saying the Liir have a pair of propaganda ships in orbit, and never bothered to tell anyone?" she asked, thankful she remembered to trigger her recorder.

"I'm saying that considering the Liir just tried to commit xenocide, the amount of hostility we're seeing from the batarians doesn't add up. They were one of the most vindictive and warlike races on the Citadel before we opened up the Orion Arm. We should be seeing riots in the streets, not mild resentment and crimes of passion."

"I'm not sure that-" Elan's next sentence was cut off by two sharp cracks from a nearby alley that some part of the back of her mind recognized as gunfire. The turian reacted instantly, tackling her to the ground and pulling out his sniper rifle, eyes scanning the entire street in an instant.

"Stay down!" he ordered, and got to his feet, dashing over to the mouth of the alley and taking cover behind one of the walls.

Now that she was looking for it, she could make out movement in the alley. The figure of a large Liir, almost six meters long, took up most of the back of the alley, though she could make out someone else moving behind the Liir.

"Both of you! Come out of there, and put any weapons you may have on the ground!" the turian ordered, edging around the corner to point his rifle at the two figures. The Liir moved, but not to leave the alley. Instead, it shifted its body to shield the figure behind it from view, blocking the turian's shot.

"This man is distraught," the Liir explained, turning its armored face toward the turian. "Please leave us. I fear your presence will only aggravate him now."

"No!" the other figure yelled, moving forward. She could see it was a haggard-looking batarian male, a pistol in his hand and his gait uneven. Drugs or alcohol, maybe? "You stay, turian! I wanna know how you justify this!"

"Justify what?" the turian asked, though from his tone and the way he pulled one hand behind his back to activate his omnitool, it looked as though he was only stalling for time.

"This!" the batarian snarled, pressing his pistol up against the Liir's head. The Liir didn't seem bothered by this, moving its head only slightly to look at him expressionlessly. "You turians just sat back and let these monsters murder us all! You knew what they were doing to use, and you did nothing! And then when they've finished, you just swoop in and occupy our planets! You even let _them_ live here, any expect us to be peaceful neighbors with the race that tried to exterminate us!"

"The Hegemony left the Citadel years before the war ever began," the turian said evenly, though his hand returned to the rifle and Elan saw him trying to aim around the Liir's protective bulk. "We can't interfere in the affairs of species that aren't members."

"We left because the Council was trying to outlaw our culture!" yelled the batarian, gesturing wildly with the gun. The turian's finger tightened around the trigger, but before he could take the shot, the Liir again moved to conceal the batarian from view. "The caste system was who we were, it was what made us great! You had no right to ask us to give that up!"

"Who you were?" the Liir asked, straightening, and for the first time, Elan thought she heard something like anger creeping into its tone. Its movement allowed the turian to line up another shot against the batarian, but the Liir gestured calmingly with a pair of tentacles. "Peace, friend. I have already disabled his weapon. He can harm no one now."

The batarian looked down at his gun in confusion before shoving it into the Liir's face and pulling the trigger several times. When nothing happened, he screamed in frustration and threw it at the Liir. It bounced harmlessly off the creature's armor, and the batarian began scrambling backward as the Liir straightened and placed its face inches from the batarian's.

"You have no idea of what you speak," the Liir pronounced, the anger softening to something like pity. "Come, little one. I will show you who you were. Perhaps then you will understand."

The batarian stiffened, his four eyes all rolling back into his head as he began to twitch uncontrollably. Moans and groans of pain escaped his lips, and a line of drool began sliding from the corner of his mouth to the pavement.

"What the hell did you just do?" the turian yelled, raising his rifle again, only to be met with another placating tentacle.

"Your leaders have asked that we stop taking their pain, because it is how your kind learns and grows," the Liir explained calmly. "So instead, to help him learn, I gave him more pain."

"You're torturing him?" the turian accused, and his finger began tightening on the trigger again.

"Not at all. I work with former slaves, helping to rehabilitate them," the Liir explained, its clicking voice being given a mechanical edge by the suit's speakers. "He did not understand the pain the batarian caste system caused, so I showed it to him. I gave him two years of memories I took from a young asari slave girl. All that she felt, all that she experienced, is now his."

"You just dumped two years of memories into him?" the turian asked, incredulous.

"The highlights," the Liir answered, nodding in agreement. "I only took what she could not bear to remember. He will recover shortly. The mind experiences time differently. What are seconds for us may be minutes or hours for him. When he has finished reliving them, I will remove the memories again. They are not his burden to bear."  
"But you'll remember them?" Elan asked, climbing back to her feet and walking up to the alley.  
"That is our penance," it replied somberly. "The Black Swimmers remember."

The turian moved between Elan and the alley, not lowering his rifle. He looked like he was about to say something, when the batarian suddenly jerked upright, gasping in shock. The batarian glanced around in surprise, and then embraced the Liir, clinging to its armored form like a drowning man would to a life raft.

"I'm so sorry!" he wept, sobbing openly as he cluched at the armored form beside him. "We didn't know! We didn't know!"

"You knew, but you did not understand," the Liir corrected gently. "I will remove the memories now. Please try to relax."

"Why?" the batarian asked, as the pain slowly eased from his face. "Why did you stop? We deserved it. We deserved it all and worse."

"We stopped because you were no longer Suul'ka," it explained as if it was the simplest thing in the world. "Officer, I understand that your duty requires you to arrest this man. However, as there has been no harm done, would you consider looking the other way just this once? The weapon has been destroyed, I am uninjured, and I believe Grota here has seen the error of his ways."

The turian seemed to think for a moment, and then sighed heavily. He collapsed his rifle and returned it to his back, shaking his head.

"See her? She's an inspector for the Council," he answered heavily, pointing to Elan. "You attacked his mind right in front of her. At this point, I couldn't let you go even if I wanted to, which I don't."

"But you do," the Liir answered, calmly contradicting him. "You know that the batarian will be locked up and placed in a penal group, even though he was young, foolish, and he held his sister in his arms as she died of the plague my people inflicted upon him. You know I will swim free within hours, because your people don't even have words for what I just did to him, much less laws against it. There is no justice to be had here. Only pain."

"That doesn't matter," the turian said, sighing heavily. "There are rules. I still have to take you in."

"As you wish," the Liir stated calmly, just as an assault shuttle swooped overhead, circling to land carefully in the middle of the street. A squad of turian soldiers disembarked, guns snapping toward any possible threat as they moved to secure the scene.

"Figures, backup always shows up just when you don't need it anymore," he grumbled, walking over to stand next to Elan. "Welcome to Khar'shan, Inspector."

"Does this sort of thing happen often?" she asked in confusion, hearing the wearied resignation in his tone.

"At least once a week. Not usually this spectacularly, of course," the turian confirmed. "I'm sure we'll have a word with the Liir about this 'pain sharing' thing, but they'll just have a new trick within a few months."

"Goddess," she whispered softly, suddenly understanding the magnitude of her task. The batarians were in pain, suffering from the almost total extermination of their species, and the trauma had obviously broken them. The turians had placed the whole planet under military occupation with armed soldiers patrolling the streets. The Liir were trying to help, but their idea of help made her skin crawl. And the worst was she honestly couldn't fault any of them. She had no idea how even the Council could sort this mess out.

"That's why I'm transferring to C-Sec," the turian announced as two armed soldiers escorted the unresistant Liir into the shuttle, which suddenly looked very cramped. "Give me illegal red sand dealers and weapon smugglers over this spookie telepathic crap any day."

"I can't say that I blame you..." Elan's voice trailed off as she realized she had never actually been introduced to the turian.

"Garrus," the turian answered, a small grin on his face. "Garrus Vakarian."


	11. Liir (Codex)

_And now, the Liir Codex entry, for those of you Mass Effecters who are wondering just what's with the weird psychic fish people. This promises to be a bit more interesting than the Human entry, since humans are really the same no matter what universe you're in. Sci-fi/fantasy is funny that way. SotS fans may want to skip the history/biology bits, as you probably are already familiar with those. Interestingly, the Liir have the most complex political position of the SotS races, since they kind of did a 180 after xenociding the batarians. Not a great way to make friends there..._

_To address some concerns I've been getting: I'm not sure how I'll deal with the actual Mass Effect games. I'm strongly considering throwing them out the airlock and going for more of a political drama than space adventure. That's right, I'm thinking of actual plot. GASP! To that end, I've left a special message regarding the future of the story at the bottom of this entry. Even if you skip this chapter, please read it._

_For one last concern, everyone is stuck with Fusion tech until two years after when the original ME game takes place. The Loa, Prester Zuul, and other SotS 2 concepts will also be arriving, but they'll be a bit late to the party. _

_Any other questions or comments? Leave a review! I try to follow up with everyone, even if it's just a quick thank you note._

* * *

_"Order the fleets to hold back. No one is that nice unless they can afford to be."_  
-Tarkasian emissary following the first negotiations with the Liir

_"Be grateful, Krogan. You faced the Turians and the Salarians. They only neutered you. Had you fought the Liir as we did, your race would not have even lived to see the end of another decade."_  
-Overheard on Omega

**Liir**

The Liir are a powerful stellar nation, one that rivals the first active psychic race encountered by the Citadel. Recent research into the psychic phenomena has revealed that Asari are also psychic to some degree, though even a young Liir outstrips the most gifted Asari by several orders of magnitude. The Liir are also the second aquatic species to discover the Citadel, after the Hanar. Unlike the Hanar, the Liir are a cetacean species, but to avoid dehydration and to allow propulsion, they wear metallic suits when on land. Liir are hermaphroditic, and will call themselves whatever gender they feel most connected to at the time. For example, a pregnant Liir would identify as female, where as a Liir soldier (known as a Black Swimmer) would likely identify as male.

Liir have good eyesight, but do not see as many wavelengths as most other species. They make up for this with their ability to 'sing', utilizing advanced echolocation to instantly examine objects and locations, including the interior. Liir are conscious breathers, so going unconscious for any period of time would be swiftly fatal. Since they do not sleep, they allow one lobe of their brain to sleep for several hours while the other two remain active. This allows them to remain active for an indefinite period of time. Liir are unique among known races in that they have no maximum age. Liir will continue growing throughout their lives, eventually reaching massive sizes after several centuries of life. These Liir are know as Elders, and are psychics of fantastic power, capable of telepathic duels with hundreds of younger Liir at a time. Eventually, the Elder grows so large that its bulk cannot be supported, even in water, and the Elder will die. Liir are quite philosophical about this process, and suggestions of zero-gravity platforms to allow Elders to survive past this point have been met with borderline hostility.

The Liir are a very recent addition to the galaxy, and owe their rapid advancement to a race known only as Suul'ka. Many centuries ago, this race invaded the Liir homeworld of Muur while the Liir were just a bronze-age civilization. This enslavement lasted for centuries, as the Liir were unwilling to resist due to their emphatic nature. Eventually, the suffering of the Liir grew too great, and they rose up in rebellion despite their pacifistic nature. The early stages of the war were said to be extremely bloody, however the Liir eventually unleashed a powerful bioweapon against the Suul'ka that appears to have completely eliminated the species. Following the destruction of the Suul'ka, the Liir reverse-engineered their technology, uplifting themselves.

Liir are primarily known for their mental abilities. Liir are telekinetic on a macro and micro scale, and their echolocation allows them to manipulate objects they cannot see, such as the mechanisms inside a machine. Fine manipulation is taxing, however, and while Liir are only capable of interacting with objects through their telekinesis, they generally do not do so for long periods of time. Liir are also telepathic, and communicate with each other almost entirely through this method. Elders often attract large clouds of younger Liir who swim beside them, telepathically communing with the Elder and learning from their wisdom. There has been a recent trend among the more philosophical of the asari to join these Liir, but the difficulties of such a life have prevented the trend from growing beyond the most dedicated of followers.

Government is a complicated issue among the Liir. It would be best described as a collectivist government, with the oldest Liir on the planet (known as the Eldest) setting policy and gathering the collected opinions of the rest of his or her race. The Eldest on each planet is called the name of the planet, for example the Muur Eldest would be called Muur. Liir do not have laws or property, freely sharing among their own kind and with visitors, and are often confused by the concept when first visiting other species. Their emphatic ability to sense the emotions and thoughts of others makes such ideas redundant, though certain unwritten regulations are obviously present among the Black Swimmers.

The Liir military are collectively known as the Black Swimmers. They are led by the Black, the Eldest of the Black Swimmers. The Black has not appeared before any known non-Liir, but is the closest the Liir have to a single leader. As undisputed leader for the Liir space forces, the Black controls foreign policy, trade, and commands during war. The Black is responsible for planning the Batarian Extermination, and was brought to trial in absentia for war crimes during the aftermath. The Black, as well as all other Liir including the Citadel Eldest, declined to attend the trial, but did give the Tarkasian ambassador to represent the defense.

Due to their telepathic abilities and echolocation, Liir are renown as excellent scientists, especially at deciphering the technologies of others. They lack the creativity of humans and salarians, but the ability to pool the knowledge of several dozen individuals at once more than makes up for this. Liir seem especially fond of particle manipulation, and were the first race to discover the secrets of true energy shields, rather than simple mass effect barriers. Liir are also masters of genetic engineering, a talent they have frequently turned to devastating use in war. The Krogan have approached the Liir about curing the genophage, however the Liir's response is unknown.

The asari have historically had the best relationship with the Liir. Their similar lifespan has created a unique connection only shared by the Krogan, and their pacifistic and philosophical nature was well received. Liir often view asari in their Maiden years with some confusion, as this is the time when most Liir would be staying near Elders, learning from their wisdom. They have difficulty understanding why so many would leave the Matriarchs to pursue what they see as selfish goals. Despite this confusion, the Liir have maintained good relations with the Asari Republics until the Batarian Extermination. Following the revelation that the Liir were behind the Extermination, the Asari Republics formally placed a trade embargo on the Liir, and Matriarch Benezia traveled to Muur in an attempt to get the Black Eldest to stop the attacks. After the Extermination, the Republics lifted with embargo, however the asari remain suspicious of the Liir. For their part, the Liir seem rather perplexed at this reaction, viewing the Extermination as regrettable, but necessary.

The Salarian Union had maintained a more neutral stance toward the Liir. Several joint Salarian/Liir research projects have yielded impressive fruit, such as the creation of X-Ray lasers. The two races also share an interest in advanced biology, and gene-mods for several crop species, including dexro crops, have helped greatly reduce the difficulties of settling new worlds. On a personal level, the Liir find the Salarians almost pitiable, as they barely have time to do anything before they die. The salarians often find the Liir to be too concerned about trivial things for their tastes, much like the asari. The two races have essentially agreed to disagree, however. The Salarian Union did not officially take any action against the Liir for the Batarian Extermination, and have denied any allegations that the STG was or still is active in Batarian Space. Salarian scientists were the first to discover an effective cure for the Extermination Plague, though they were unable to effectively deploy it in large quantities until after the Extermination ended. Noted salarian scientist Mordin Solus is on record as saying:

_"Extermination virus weapon of genocide, not war. Month long incubation period, capable of dormancy for three, four times as long. Maximizes natural spread, very logical. But killing method too clean, painless. Victims go to sleep, never wake up. War weapon would be horrific, painful, to encourage swift surrender. Extermination virus simply encourages death. *Sniff* Interesting insight into Liir psychology."_

Interestingly, relations with the Turian Hierarchy have improved following the Extermination. The lawless nature of the Liir caused natural friction with the ordered turians. The Liir's refusal to take proactive steps against batarian aggression, preferring to bring issues to the Council instead, also convinced the turians that the Liir were not ready to be Council members, and that they might be better as a client race to the turians or asari. The severity of the Liir's eventual retaliation has silenced these concerns, and while the Hierarchy has officially denounced the Liir's total war doctrine, several ranking turian admirals have expressed admiration for the thoroughness and forethought put into the Liir campaign. Though the two races are still not very close, several joint training exercises have been proposed between Turian and Liir forces.

The Liir and salarian creation of new bio-engineered dextro crops has led to a positive relationship with the Migrant Fleet, which is a common sight in Liir space. Liir often appreciate the addition of quarian labor for land construction, but the regimented lifestyle of the Fleet often clashes with the free-spirited Liir, resulting in short stays. The krogan have largely held the Liir in disdain for their pacifism, though several major clan heads have expressed admiration for the violence of the Batarian Extermination. The extensive use of bioweapons, however, appears to have prevented the Liir from any ground with the krogan for their actions.

Hanar and Liir get along very well, as the only aquatic Citadel races, and though Liir are generally not tourists, hanar and Liir have been known to visit each others worlds. Many hanar, especially those that spend time with Liir elders, have reported deep spiritual changes, and occasionally psychotic episodes. Liir have not reported any significant changes from visiting hanar worlds, though there has been an increase in interest in the Prothean relics. Black Swimmers and drell often seem to get along well, as their codes of duty are sometimes very similar. Liir do not do well in heavy gravity environments, though the elchor have expressed pleasure with Liir telepathy, as the Liir often take them more seriously than other species. The volus have very little to do with the Liir (often known as Muur-clan), as the Liir do not value possessions, and so make awkward trade partners.

* * *

_I'm not in the habit of leaving post scripts, but I'm going to make an exception. I think I've gone about as far as I can, snippit-wise, without involving some kind of over-arching plot. So I'm getting ready to work on an actual story. My problem is, I'm not sure what that story should be yet. I have very little interest in just rehashing the Mass Effect games, as I feel it kills suspense. You know where they're going, you know what they're doing. It's been done before, by better writers than I. And if I'm going to go off the rails, I might as well go all the way off. However, key moments of the series have quite a bit of potential, especially considering how things would change due to SotS entering the mix. So a collection of snips dealing with that would be a lot of fun. Besides, I was really looking forward to having a Suul'ka and a Reaper tear each other apart._

_On the other hand, I've already got the groundwork for some pretty decent political drama going on here. The interaction between the two universes was always the point of the story in the first place, and Mass Effect has enough side plots that I could have a pretty decent time just having characters deal with local problems with the looming threat of interstellar war, rather than pulling in Mecha-Cthulhu to take things up to 11. The Suul'ka, Geth, and other aspects would still come into play, but wouldn't be tied to points in the Mass Effect story. Instead they'd show up as I felt they would fit in. _

_To that end, I've placed a poll on my profile, and would really appreciate it if you took a moment to tell me what you think. Obviously I get the final say, but since both options would be equally fun to write, I'm interested in see what people would rather read. Thanks for your time, and happy polling!_


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